The New York State Department of Financial Services has issued Standard Chartered Bank with a consent order in which it ceases to monitor the bank, drawing a period of remediation over the bank's dealings with Iranian entities to a close.

In 2012 the recently created department (the New York State Banking Department merged in 2011 with the New York State Insurance Department) took enforcement action against the bank in connection with apparent violations of several New York laws and regulations including section 44 New York Banking Law, which arose out of the bank's dealings with Iranian entities. Standard Chartered agreed to pay for an on-site monitor for two years to scrutinise its compliance with the federal Bank Secrecy Act 1970. The bank's transaction monitoring system was under particular scrutiny.

Then came a second consent order, dated 19 August 2014, when the department fined Standard Chartered $300 million for breach of money-laundering compliance related to potentially high-risk transactions involving the bank's clients in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates. The bank had to extend the stay of its on-site monitor for another two years, to ensure compliance with the consent order of 2012 and all applicable requirements of the BSA.

To "facilitate continued progress," the department and the bank signed a supplemental consent order on 17 April 2016 that extended the period of the on-site monitor until 2018.

The NYDFS is now satisfied with progress and is willing to close down this particular strand of punishment for the bank. The bank will be rid of the monitor on 31 December. The very next day, and for a period of up to one year, the bank is to hire an independent consultant of the regulator's choice to provide it with guidance in connection with its achievement of tasks necessary to complete the remediation contemplated by the consent orders of 2012 and 2014, and help the NYDFS review futher progress.