China Railway Corp forms cargo venture with SF Holding
Chartered admitted that it hid or disguised the identity of Iranian clients – including the central bank of Iran – in billions of dollars of transactions through the US from 2001 to 2007.
As part of the deferred-prosecution agreement, the bank agreed to have an outside monitor scrutinise its business practices and the US agreed to eventually dismiss charges after the bank complied with a deal.
Those terms were set to expire in 2014. But authorities extended the deal – and opened another investigation – after suspicions arose that Standard Chartered continued to conduct Iranian business for clients after 2007. The business allegedly involved facilitating payments for firms based in the United Arab Emirates that were trading with Iranian counterparts, according to people familiar with the probe.
That year, it paid another US$300mil to the New York state banking regulator after the monitor uncovered a flaw in Standard Chartered’s system for tracking suspicious transactions, which the bank was required to do under the original agreement.
The agreement has since been extended twice more, including as recently as last month, and will now run until the end of 2018. — Bloomberg BEIJING: China Railway Corp formed a cargo venture with express delivery company SF Holding Co as part of the nation’s efforts to draw in private enterprises to bolster state firms’ competitiveness.
Cargo subsidiary China Railway Express Co will hold a 55% stake, while SF, the country’s biggest parcel-delivery company, will own the rest of the venture, the national railway operator said in a statement. SF and China Railway won’t own shares in each other.
The pact with SF is part of China’s efforts to let railways account for a larger share of cargo transportation to combat road-traffic pollution, and would help the rail operator meet a goal of increasing cargo shipments by 30% by 2020.
It is China Railway’s second tie-up with a private firm following the sale of a stake in a unit offering wi-fi on bullet trains to Tencent Holdings Ltd and Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd in June.
SF and China Railway’s venture, based in the southern city of Shenzhen, will offer cargo shipments by bullet and express trains. — Bloomberg