British bank Standard Chartered has agreed to pay a penalty of $340m (€275m) in the United States to settle allegations that it breached economic sanctions against Iran.
The bank has previously denied allegations by New York regulators that it illegally hid 60,000 transactions with Iran worth $250bn (€202bn) over nearly a decade.
The deal with New York Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky still leaves the British bank facing a separate inquiry of Iran-linked transactions by other US authorities.
The agreement capped a week of transatlantic tension and a furore over why a state agency had upstaged the other authorities.
The resolution also averted a hearing today at which the bank had been called to demonstrate why its licence to do business in New York should not be revoked.
Standard Chartered confirmed that the two sides had reached an agreement, including the payment of $340m, and said detailed terms would be concluded soon.
A spokesman for the bank said: "It was a pragmatic decision in the best interest of shareholders and customers."
In addition to the civil penalty, Mr Lawsky said that the bank agreed to an outside monitor for at least two years to check on controls on money-laundering at its New York branch.
Mr Lawsky's aggressive stance has heightened his public profile just months after the Department of Financial Services, the agency he heads, was created out of the state's banking and insurance regulators.
Within minutes of the announcement, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo lauded the "effectiveness and leadership" of the new agency.
"New York needed a tough and fair regulator for the banking and insurance industries to protect consumers and investors," Mr Cuomo said.
