Barclays traded with US 'enemies'

Barclays Bank violated US sanctions in dealings with Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Burma, court papers have revealed.

It is to pay $298m (£190m) to settle criminal charges that it breached the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act in dealings between 1995 and 2006, the BBC reports.

Buried deep in its results published last week, the bank said it had set aside £194m to settle a US-led probe into payments made to countries or people on a sanctions list.

In US court documents filed on Monday, Barclays agreed to pay a final settlement of $149m to the US government and a separate $149m in a deferred prosecution agreement with the district attorney in New York.

As early as November 1987, sanctioned banks directed Barclays not to mention their names on payment messages sent to the United States, the documents say.