PARIS (Reuters) - Societe Generale said it plans to finish an internal investigation into dollar transfers made on behalf of entities based in countries subject to U.S. sanctions, linked to talks with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, by the end of next year.
"No news is good news," SocGen Chief Executive Frederic Oudea told an investor conference in London on Wednesday when asked for an update on outstanding litigation issues in the United States.
"The inquiry about the embargo: we are at a very preliminary stage, what we try to achieve is the end of (the) internal investigation by end-2015...So you see, nothing to expect in the coming quarters".
SocGen increased its litigation provision by 200 million euros ($252 million) to 900 million as of the end of June 2014.
It was not immediately clear if the U.S. authorities may decide on the SocGen issue before the bank sends the results of its own investigation.
Credit Agricole said in August that it was starting discussions with U.S. authorities over possible sanctions breaches after it had sent the results of its internal review.
BNP Paribas pleaded guilty in June on two criminal charges, accepted a ban on certain dollar clearing activities and agreed to pay a total of $8.97 billion to resolve accusations it violated U.S. sanctions against Sudan, Cuba and Iran over a 10-year period up to 2012.
(1 US dollar = 0.7937 euro)
(Reporting by Maya Nikolaeva; Editing by James Regan)