Lloyds TSB is punished by $350 million fine

Lloyds TSB has to pay $350 million for its "criminal conduct" in deliberately falsifying wire transfers destined for countries or individuals on US sanctions lists, the penalty charged by the US Justice Department.

The court documents stated the company had deliberately removed material information (customer names, bank names and addresses) from payment messages, with the aim of passing the transfers undetected through filters of US financial institutions. 

Lloyds told it had set aside £180 million last year against a possible settlement but it did "not anticipate any further enforcement actions". 

Lloyds is the first British bank to fall foul of US investigations. However, punitive actions against other banks are also expected to take place in the near future.