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Promontory Financial trades on its ability to deal with regulators, so being banned by New York's top financial regulator is a serious problem. A potentially messy court fight may be the only way to protect its cachet.
August 3 -
Promontory Financial vowed to take the New York Department of Financial Services to court after it effectively banned the consulting firm from working on regulatory issues for banks the department supervises.
August 3 -
Promontory's connections and expertise turned the consultant into a private sector regulatory proxy. But those same strengths put the firm in the crosshairs after its role in the failed foreclosure review process and controversial work for MF Global and Standard Chartered.
March 15
Promontory Financial Group on Tuesday agreed to a $15 million settlement, and a six-month ban from accepting certain new consulting work in New York, to resolve an investigation by the state's department of financial services into its consulting work at Standard Chartered Bank.
Promontory agreed that "in certain instances" its actions as a consultant for London-based Standard Chartered did not meet current requirements for consultants performing regulatory compliance work, the New York Department of Financial Services said in a press release.
Promontory, founded by former Comptroller of the Currency Eugene Ludwig, ran afoul of its New York regulator, which launched an investigation of Promontory in 2013, for allegedly whitewashing reports on money laundering that it submitted in 2010 and 2011 as a consultant for Standard Chartered.
Standard Chartered was fined $640 million in 2012 for allowing about $250 billion of transactions for countries under sanction by the government.
Earlier this month the department effectively banned Promontory from working on regulatory issues with the banks the department supervises. It said it would deny the consultant access to confidential bank supervisory information effectively preventing it from working with bank clients on regulatory matters "until further notice."
Under the settlement, that virtual ban will last six months.
Promontory also has agreed to document any changes that it makes in a report at the suggestion of a client or the client's counsel, the New York regulator's press release said.
Promontory "acknowledged that any report it submits to the department must be objective and reflect its best independent judgment," the release stated.
"We are pleased that Promontory has agreed to resolve this matter and to work constructively with the department moving forward to help strengthen integrity within the consulting industry," Anthony J. Albanese, acting superintendent of financial services for New York, said in the release.
Promontory Financial Group had vowed earlier this month to sue its regulator for effectively banning the consulting firm from working on regulatory issues with the banks the department supervises.
"We are glad to have resolved this matter," Ludwig, who is Promontory's CEO, said in a separate relase. "We remain committed to quality and integrity in carrying out our work."
