Six Turkish banks face billions of dollars of fines from U.S. authorities over alleged violations of sanctions with Iran, the Habertürk newspaper reported on Saturday, citing senior banking sources.
The report comes as relations between Washington and Ankara have been strained by a series of diplomatic rows, prompting both countries to cut back issuing visas to each other's citizens.
Habertürk did not name the six banks potentially facing the fines. One bank will face a penalty in excess of $5 billion, while the rest of the fines will be lower, it said. U.S. officials will notify the banks of their penalties in the coming days and the banks are likely to be able to negotiate down the fines, Habertürk said.
U.S. authorities have hit global banks with billions of dollars in fines over violations of sanctions with Iran and other countries in recent years.
U.S. prosecutors last month charged a former Turkish economy minister and the ex-head of a state-owned bank with conspiring to violate Iran sanctions by illegally moving hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on Tehran's behalf. The charges stem from the case against Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian gold trader who was arrested in the United States over sanctions evasion last year.
Turkey's banking regulator urged the public to ignore "rumours" about financial institutions, in an apparent dismissal of the report that some Turkish banks face billions of dollars of U.S. fines over alleged violations of Iran sanctions.
"It has been brought to the public's attention that stories, that are rumours in nature, about our banks are not based on documents or facts, and should not be heeded," the BDDK banking regulator said in a statement, adding that Turkey's banks were functioning well.
