MUFG to pay $8.6 million in U.S. sanctions case

Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc <8306.T> (MUFG) said it will pay $8.6 million to U.S. regulators as a settlement for transactions that could be seen as violations of U.S. sanctions against Iran and Myanmar.

MUFG said its core commercial bank, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU), conducted money transfer and other transactions with clients related to Iran, Myanmar, Sudan and Cuba between 2006 and 2007.

The bank said it had no knowledge at the time that such transactions could be violating U.S. sanctions as the transactions were done with the clients' bank accounts in countries not targeted by the U.S. sanctions, including the United States. The transactions totaled 97 cases and $5.9 million.

MUFG, Japan's biggest bank, said it held a series of consultations with U.S. regulatory body, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) about the transactions.

"Some of the transactions reported by BTMU were determined to be apparent violations of the OFAC regulations," it said in a statement.

Standard Chartered Plc agreed to pay $327 million to resolve allegations that it violated U.S. sanctions, on top of a $340 million fine in August on Iranian sanctions.

(Reporting by Mayumi Negishi and Taiga Uranaka; Editing by Richard Pullin)