Hollande Says Big BNP Fine May Hit Europe Bank Stability

A potential $10 billion fine against BNP Paribas SA, France’s biggest bank, for violating U.S. trade sanctions could have repercussions affecting the stability of Europe’s financial sector, French President Francois Hollande warned ahead of his meeting with President Barack Obama.

U.S. authorities “must be fully aware of what is at stake from a sanction that would be not just unfair, but disproportionate, and with consequences well beyond a single French bank. Other banks could be targeted, introducing a risk, doubts, suspicions about the soundness of Europe’s financial system,” Hollande said late yesterday at a press conference at the Group of Seven meeting in Brussels.