ING Bank agreed to forfeit a record $619 million to U.S. authorities after admitting that it and its employees covered up billions of dollars in transfers that violated U.S. sanctions on Iran and Cuba.

The ING Bank NV unit moved billions of dollars from the early 1990s until 2007 through the U.S. financial system on behalf of Cuban, Burmese, Sudanese, Libyan and Iranian clients by stripping out data embedded in payment messages that would have identified the illegal nature of the transactions, according to the settlement agreement signed by the bank and the U.S. Treasury Department.

The process intended to make it appear transactions involving ING's subsidiary at the time, the Netherlands Caribbean Bank, originated elsewhere, and not in Cuba or any of the other sanctioned countries. By stripping out the data embedded in the payment messages, ING deceived U.S. banks into processing illegal wire payments, U.S. authorities said.

"Investigations of financial institutions, businesses and individuals who violate U.S. sanctions by misusing banks in New York are vitally important to national security and the integrity of our banking system," said New York County District Attorney Cy Vance in a statement.

"These cases give teeth to sanctions enforcement, send a strong message about the need for transparency in international banking and ultimately contribute to the fight against money laundering and terror financing," he said.