The Wall Street Journal reports:

“The Paris-based lender said Thursday it set aside $1.1 billion for possible violation of laws, in particular those of the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, related to transactions dating from 2002 to 2009.”

A violation of the only OFAC list costs an arm and a leg. Though this investigation covers a time period before 2010, it is amazing that still today financial institutions treat this risk with benign neglect. Or worse, that willfully might try to circumvent the provisions of the law. And many foreign financial institutions might ignore the long arm and the reach of OFAC compliance, until one element of a transaction banned by OFAC hits US shores.

The record fines until now were paid by HSBC last year, at $1.92 billion!