Santander falls 5% in the stock market after accusations that Iran used bank accounts to avoid sanctions

M. Hernandez Madrid

Madrid

Updated Monday, February 5, 2024-12:29

After the hangover of success due to historical results, Banco Santander

shares

suffered a drop of around 5% on the Ibex 35 this Monday following accusations that Iran used accounts in the entity's British subsidiary to evade international sanctions.

The Cantabrian bank's shares stand at 3.682 euros at mid-session as investors react to the information published yesterday by the Financial Times newspaper. According to their investigation, Iran used both Santander and Lloyds, two of the largest banks in the United Kingdom, to covertly move money around the world as part of a plan to evade sanctions by Tehran's intelligence services. .

Specifically, according to the FT, Lloyds and Santander UK provided accounts to British shell companies that actually belonged to a sanctioned Iranian petrochemical company,

Petrochemical Commercial Company

, whose headquarters were located near Buckingham Palace.

The United States has accused the company of having raised funds for the Quds Force, a division of Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

A Santander spokesperson assured Europa Press: "We cannot comment on clients. Santander complies with its legal and regulatory obligations, and we pay close attention to regulatory compliance with sanctions imposed on third parties."

For their part, Lloyds shares have accumulated a fall of 1.3% in these first hours of trading.

Financial TIMEs indicates that both the PCC and its British subsidiary PCC UK have been under US sanctions since November 2018. According to a series of documents, emails and accounting records, during this time the PCC's UK division has continued to operate from a office located in Grosvenor Gardens, in the central London neighborhood of Belgravia, using a complex network of entities.

The FT also notes that revelations about the Iranian sanctions evasion operation in London come after the Royal Air Force recently joined US airstrikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Documents seen by the FT show that since coming under US sanctions, the CCP has used companies in the UK to receive funds from Iranian front entities in China, while concealing its real ownership through "trust agreements" and directors. nominees.

One of them, Pisco UK, is registered in a single-family home in the English county of Surrey and uses a business account with Santander UK, according to the newspaper.

According to this country's corporate registry, Pisco UK is wholly owned by a British citizen named Abdollah-Siauash Fahimi.