The US authorities are investigating financial services group ING for breaking economic sanctions against Cuba, Iran and Syria,the Financieele Dagblad reports on Wednesday.

The paper says a source close to the Dutch central bank expects ING to be hit by fines of ‘several hundreds of millions of euros’. The bank itself admits the fines could be ‘considerable’.
The exact nature of the investigation remains unknown because the US has not responded to requests for more information, the FD says.
British banks Barclays and Lloyds were earlier fined $298m and $350m for helping Iranian and Libyan clients get round the trade embargoes. In 2005, ABN Amro was fined $80m and paid $500m to avoid prosecution for breaking sanctions against Iran and Libya, the FD points out.