Bulletin: German UniCredit Bank And U.S. Authorities Settle Over Violations On Iran Sanctions

FRANKFURT (S&P Global Ratings) April 16, 2019--Increased legal provisioning over 2017-2018 allows UniCredit Bank AG (UCB; BBB+/Negative/A-2) to cover its share of the groupwide $1.3 billion fine related to the violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran. As such, S&P Global Ratings' view on UCB remains unchanged by the settlement news. On April 15, 2019, UCB entered a guilty plea agreement for processing dollar transactions over 2002-2012 on behalf of Iranian entities subject to U.S. economic sanctions. UCB had been under investigation by U.S. authorities since 2012. Under the agreed terms, UCB, sister company UniCredit Bank Austria, and parent company UniCredit SpA agreed to pay about $1.3 billion, the vast majority of which we expect will be attributable to UCB. UCB

...April 16, 2019 FRANKFURT (S&P Global Ratings) April 16, 2019--Increased legal provisioning over 2017-2018 allows UniCredit Bank AG (UCB; ###+/Negative/A-2) to cover its share of the groupwide $1.3 billion fine related to the violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran. As such, S&P Global Ratings' view on UCB remains unchanged by the settlement news. On April 15, 2019, UCB entered a guilty plea agreement for processing dollar transactions over 2002-2012 on behalf of Iranian entities subject to U.S. economic sanctions. UCB had been under investigation by U.S. authorities since 2012. Under the agreed terms, UCB, sister company UniCredit Bank Austria, and parent company UniCredit SpA agreed to pay about $1.3 billion, the vast majority of which we expect will be attributable to UCB. UCB significantly increased provisioning for risk and charges by 919 million in 2018--up from 25 million in 2017-- largely due to provisions for legal risks in both years. Because of this increase, UCB's 2018 net income...

Bulletin