Joe Echevarria, chief executive of Deloitte in
the US, has contested allegations that the firm helped Standard
Chartered Bank (SCB) hide transactions with Iran worth around
$250bn.
Echevarria told news agency Reuters that the
accusations, brought against the firm last week by the New York
State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS), represented
“distortions of the facts”.
“Presumably the facts will bear out that we
certainly held up all the standards required and behaved in an
ethical and responsible way,” Echevarria added.
NYSDFS’ report, published at the start of
August, alleged Deloitte aided LCB in hiding transactions from
regulators between 2004 and 2007.
In a further charge against Deloitte, the
watchdog said the firm gave SCB two reports containing highly
confidential client information.
Responding, Echevarria argued: “We have pretty robust processes in
place for behavior that violates law, rules or firm
policies”.
“Appropriate actions are taken when individuals are found to have
done that,” he concluded.
