BNP Paribas settles sanctions violations, pays $9b to US

France's largest bank BPS Paribas has reportedly agreed to a record 9billion dollars settlement with US prosecutors over sanctions violations.

The settlement is said to be the largest for such a case in US history.

According to the BBC, the US Attorney General said the bank was involved in a complex and pervasive scheme to illegally move billions through the US financial system which was a deliberate attempt at violating the longstanding US sanctions.

France has been condemning the size of the fine, which almost equals BNP's entire pre-tax income of about 8.2billion euros of 2013.