Bank of Tokyo to pay NY $250 million over sanctions

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ has agreed to pay $250 million to New York state for systematically stripping out information from $100 billion in transactions involving sanctioned countries, including Iran, Sudan and Myanmar.

The bank deleted wire transfer information for nearly 28,000 transactions that went through New York and could have been used to identify the countries and other entities that were subject to international sanctions between 2002 and 2007, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement on Thursday.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, owned by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (8306.T)(MTU.N), said in a statement it entered into the agreement to "resolve issues relating to certain U.S. dollar payments routed through New York" and would continue to work with its regulators.

It added it has been "cooperating fully with its regulators on these matters."

In a similar case, the state Department of Financial Services settled with British bank Standard Chartered Plc (STAN.L) last August for $340 million for breaking U.S. sanctions against Iran and other countries.

Standard Chartered agreed to pay an additional $327 million to resolve similar allegations made by U.S. agencies in December.

Employees at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi were instructed to omit information showing the transactions involved an "enemy country" in order to avoid freezing the funds, Cuomo said in a statement.

The bank also agreed to hire an independent consultant for a year to evaluate its compliance in the New York branch and report to the state.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Jeffrey Benkoe)

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