BNP Paribas chief concedes bank faces 'severe' punishment

The head of BNP Paribas has conceded the bank will be "punished severely" ahead of what is expected to be a multi-billion dollar fine for breaching US economic sanctions.
"I want to be clear: we will be punished severely because malfunctions have occurred and mistakes were made," director general Jean-Laurent Bonnafe wrote to employees on Friday, French news channel i-Tele reported. 
"But this difficulty we are facing will not impact our roadmap."
The New York Times reported on Friday that BNP Paribas is set to announce a deal next week to plead guilty to helping some countries avoid US sanctions and agree to pay an $8.9 billion (6.4 billion euro) fine.  
BNP Paribas is accused of breaching US sanctions against Iran, Sudan and Cuba between 2002 and 2009 by handling $30 billion (22 billion euros) worth of transactions with them.
At the request of US authorities, the bank -- France's largest by capitalisation -- has already severed ties with a dozen employees, including two senior executives.
The case has strained ties between Paris and Washington, with the French government warning a mooted fine exceeding $10 billion (7.2 billion euros) would endanger negotiations on a US-EU free trade agreement and cause a knock-on effect through the banking system.