French President Francois Hollande plans to raise concerns about a possible $10-billion-plus U.S. fine on BNP Paribas that he considers disproportionate with U.S. counterpart Barack Obama, reports The Globe and Mail.
The U.S president is due to arrive in France on Thursday for talks ahead of Friday’s 70th anniversary D-Day commemoration.
“I don’t know if he wants to talk about it, but I will talk to him about it (on Thursday evening),” Hollande told reporters during a trip to Warsaw on Wednesday. French officials have said the men will meet over dinner at a restaurant in central Paris.
U.S. authorities are investigating whether BNP evaded U.S. sanctions relating primarily to Sudan, Iran and Syria between 2002 and 2009. They allege the lender stripped out identifying information from wire transfers so they could pass through the U.S. financial system without raising red flags.
Sources familiar with the matter have said the potential fine could top $10-billion.
Hollande wrote to Obama in April to express concern the possible fine for France’s biggest bank would be “disproportionate” and flagged the need for a “reasonable” approach by the U.S. justice system in close cooperation with the financial regulatory authorities, an official in Hollande’s office said.
Read more of this report from The Globe and Mail.