VOA慢速英语2012 Economics Report - British Banks Pays $340 Million Fine for Iran Dealings

 

Economics Report - British Banks Pays $340 Million Fine for Iran Dealings

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

The British bank Standard Chartered agreed this week to pay three hundred forty million dollars to a United States financial regulator. The agreement is designed to settle charges that the bank illegally hid financial business with Iranian interests. The wording of the agreement notes that the financial business in question amounted to at least two hundred fifty billion dollars.

Standard Chartered said it "strongly rejects" the charges. The bank said it will fight efforts to withdraw its license¹ to do business in New York, an important financial center.

Standard Chartered is Britain’s fifth largest bank. New York state’s top bank regulator accused the bank of being a "rogue² institution" from two thousand one to twenty ten.

The regulator said the bank made hundreds of millions of dollars in fees from about sixty thousand financial exchanges with Iranian financial institutions. The reported exchanges were made through the bank’s New York offices.

One official said the dealings exposed the United States banking³ system to terrorists, illegal drug traffickers and rogue states. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation⁴ is carrying out a criminal investigation. Other United States regulators also have opened their own investigations⁵ and are not part of the settlement.

United States law has tightly controlled financial dealings with Iran since nineteen seventy-nine. That year, fifty-two Americans were taken hostage in Tehran for four hundred forty-four days. But western concerns about Iran’s possible nuclear program are central to the case.

Bank expert Bert Ely told VOA that the investigation is part of an effort by several Western countries to limit Iran’s nuclear program. They accuse Iran of trying to develop a nuclear weapon.

BERT ELY: “Enforcement of the bank secrecy⁶ act and the money-laundering laws are just an on-going effort by the financial regulators to again choke off cash flows to Iran as much as possible and make it as difficult as possible for Iran to sell its oil internationally, but also to buy equipment and parts needed for its nuclear enrichment activities.”

Standard Chartered is not the only British bank that has faced fines recently. Barclays agreed to pay fines of about four hundred fifty million dollars to American and British officials in July.

Barclays is one of eighteen banks that set an important measure of borrowing costs for banks, the London Interbank Offering Rate, or LIBOR. Officials said Barclays lied to them about its interest costs. This made the bank appear stronger than it was. But LIBOR is used to set many interest rates paid by millions of people around the world.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. I’m Mario Ritter.

1 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

2 rogue   

n.流氓；v.游手好闲

参考例句：

• The little rogue had his grandpa's glasses on.这淘气鬼带上了他祖父的眼镜。
• They defined him as a rogue.他们确定他为骗子。

3 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

6 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。