At the urging of the Obama administration, the SEC has queried nearly two dozen large financial institutions over the past two years about their ties to sanctioned nations, particularly Iran and Syria. The more aggressive stance by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has resulted in letters to at least 21 banks in the last two years, up from less than a half dozen the previous three years, according to agency data. The banks responding to the inquiries included Banco Santander, Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse, American Express and others, according to SEC data. The increase in requests to banks...
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