Kerry to encourage Iran trade in European banks meeting

US Secretary of State John Kerry is set to meet with key European bankers in London to reassure them that they will not be penalized for having business with Iran.

Kerry and his British counterpart Philip Hammond will meet with the representatives of the major banks in London’s Mayfair district on Thursday to ask the financial institutions not to use the US as “an excuse” for not doing business in Iran, Press TV reported.

Executives at Standard Chartered, HSBC, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, BNP Parisbas, Santander, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland are among the banks invited to attend the meeting.

Some UK banks are reportedly willing to do business with Iran but remain uncertain about US punitive measures against possible deals with Tehran.

The banks apparently remember past fines from US regulators for 'breaking' sanctions. StanChart and HSBC banks have paid more than $15 billion in fines for breaching sanctions in various countries over the past five years.

BNP Paribas SA was sentenced last year to five years probation by a US judge in connection with a record $8.9 billion settlement over claims that it violated sanctions against Iran, as well as Sudan and Cuba.

Also, US regulators said in November 2015 that the Deutsche Bank will pay $258 million in fines for doing business with US-sanctioned countries like Iran and Syria.

The Thursday meeting comes only a few weeks after the British Bankers Association (BBA) established a high-level panel to assess the removal of Western sanctions on Iran.

SS