Is the dull dog of international banking really a sanctions-busting rogue

If you had asked me last week for a thumbnail sketch of Standard ­Chartered, I might have said: ‘Steadily profitable overseas bank, strong historic franchise in Asia and Africa, keeps its nose clean.’I might have added that Peter Sands, its chief executive, and Lord (Mervyn) Davies, his predecessor who went on to serve as trade minister, are among the few British bankers whose reputations have actually risen in recent years. But suddenly this dull old dog of the international banking scene stands accused in New York of being a ‘rogue institution’, up to its neck in Iranian sanctions-busting, and its share price has plunged by a quarter in response.

The allegation is that the bank processed $250 billion of illegal transactions with Iranian institutions, but Standard Chartered says the actual figure is no more than $14 million. US regulators have a history of excessive zeal in pursuit of foreign firms suspected of flouting sanctions that have generally failed (as they have so far in Iran) to deter or dislodge the regimes against which they are targeted: Barclays, Lloyds and Credit Suisse are among those previously fined for Iranian connections.