CEO Bonnafe tells employees BNP to be heavily sanctioned by US

PARIS: Jean-Laurent Bonnafe, Chief Executive Officer at BNP Paribas, said in a message to employees that the French bank will be heavily penalised by a U.S. probe into sanctions busting which should end "very soon", a French TV channel reported on Saturday BNP Paribas declined to comment.

"I want to say it clearly, we are going to be heavily sanctioned," iTele cites an internal message of Bonnafe, posted on June 27.

"Malfunctions have occurred and mistakes were made. But this difficulty we are experiencing should not impact our roadmap".

U.S. authorities are probing whether BNP Paribas evaded U.S. sanctions relating primarily to Sudan between 2002 and 2009, sources have said.

The bank is expected to plead guilty to a federal criminal charge and pay nearly $9 billion, as part of a larger settlement with multiple enforcement authorities that could be announced as early as next week, sources said earlier this week.