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It took $667 million in fines and a promise to behave for the British bank Standard Chartered to emerge from the regulatory spotlight. All it took to return there was its failure to fully keep that promise.

In a settlement announced on Tuesday by New York State’s financial regulator, Standard Chartered will pay a $300 million fine and suspend an important business activity because of its failure to weed out transactions prone to money-laundering, a punishing reminder of settlements in 2012. Those settlements with state and federal authorities resolved accusations that Standard Chartered, in part through its New York branch, processed transactions for Iran and other countries blacklisted by the United States.

The New York regulator, Benjamin M. Lawsky, has now penalized Standard Chartered for running afoul of the 2012 settlement, which he said required the bank to “remediate anti-money-laundering compliance problems.”

An independent monitor, hired as part of Mr. Lawsky’s 2012 settlement, recently detected that the bank’s computer systems failed to flag wire transfers flowing from areas of the world considered vulnerable to money-laundering, according to Mr. Lawsky’s order. The order did not specify the number of transactions that the bank’s filters failed to identify, but a person briefed on the matter said that it was “in the millions.”

The settlement with Mr. Lawsky, an unwelcome distraction for the bank as it grapples with dwindling profits and a lackluster stock price, represents a rare regulatory strike against corporate recidivism.

Historically, when banks have struggled to keep their regulatory promises, they have returned to business as usual without much of a rebuke. Yet Mr. Lawsky, two people briefed on the matter said, is considering an effort to routinely double-check banks’ transactions for signs of money-laundering, a step that could portend other actions against Wall Street banks.

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“If a bank fails to live up to its commitments, there should be consequences,” Mr. Lawsky said in a statement. “That is particularly true in an area as serious as anti-money-laundering compliance, which is vital to helping prevent terrorism and vile human rights abuses.”

At Standard Chartered, which is based in London but earns most of its profit in Asia, Mr. Lawsky’s office traced much of the problem to the bank’s Hong Kong subsidiary and its branches in the United Arab Emirates. The breadth of the errors — and the repeat nature of the case — prompted Mr. Lawsky to take aim at both of those business units.

Under the deal, Standard Chartered’s New York branch must indefinitely suspend its processing of payments in dollars, a crucial function known as dollar clearing, for “high-risk retail business clients” in Hong Kong. The suspension is expected to focus on a universe of about 300 clients, the people briefed on the matter said, not an insignificant number. It is up to the bank’s monitor to determine what constitutes “high risk” based on a number of telltale signs.

The bank, which said on Tuesday that it “accepts responsibility for and regrets the deficiencies in the anti-money-laundering transaction surveillance system at its New York branch,” also agreed to shed some of its “high-risk small- and medium-business clients” in its United Arab Emirates divisions. It is unclear how many clients will fall under that category.

Collectively, the penalties present a reputational threat to the bank even as the financial toll remains uncertain.

The bank, which publicly said on Tuesday that it had “already begun extensive remediation efforts and is committed to completing these with utmost urgency,” privately assured investors that the dollar-clearing suspension would not materially affect its financial performance, another person briefed on the matter said.

And yet in meetings with Mr. Lawsky, the people briefed on the matter said, Standard Chartered fought hard to avoid that fate. The bank also enlisted the support of its regulators overseas: British and Hong Kong authorities raised concerns with Mr. Lawsky about the dollar-clearing penalty, echoing the objections of the bank.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which oversees the banking industry there, issued a statement on Tuesday that seemed aimed at undermining Mr. Lawsky’s concerns on money-laundering controls. “Although we have identified some areas for improvement, they are not issues that cause significant supervisory concerns,” the Hong Kong authority said.

In the settlement with Mr. Lawsky, Standard Chartered was not accused of any criminal wrongdoing. Federal and state prosecutors did not join Mr. Lawsky’s order.

The order — announced a day after Mr. Lawsky reached a separate settlement with the giant consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, accusing it of “improperly altering” a report to regulators — comes at a difficult time for the bank.

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Investors have squeezed Standard Chartered’s stock in recent months after the bank warned in June that its profit would fall sharply in the first half of this year. Rumors also swirled in the media that the company was preparing a succession plan for Peter Sands, its chief executive. The bank dismissed the speculation.

In a conference call with news outlets earlier this month, Mr. Sands, who was named chief executive in November 2006, said that the bank’s shareholders were largely concerned with its recent performance — an area the board and the management team are “focused on.”

Mr. Sands, one of the longest-serving chief executives among European bankers, also declared that he had no interest in leaving the bank. “I have no other plans,” he said.

The company’s stock is off about 8 percent since mid-June but closed up slightly at 12.17 pounds, or about $20.35, in trading in London on Tuesday.

Mr. Lawsky’s investigation posed an additional test to Mr. Sands, who at times played a direct role in the negotiations. Mr. Sands met with Mr. Lawsky at his headquarters in Lower Manhattan a few times, the people said.

The resulting settlement requires the bank to assign a “competent and responsible” executive, who will report directly to Mr. Sands, to oversee “a comprehensive remediation action plan.”

The bank must also extend the duration of the independent monitor’s oversight. The monitor, Ellen Zimiles, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan who is now head of the consulting firm Navigant’s global investigations and compliance practice, will continue to keep an eye on the bank for two more years.

Should the monitor detect another breach, Mr. Lawsky’s order would allow for another round of punishments.

“Upon a finding of breach,” the order said, Mr. Lawsky’s office has “all the remedies available to it under New York Banking and Financial Services Law.”