New York state's top financial regulator on Wednesday said his office, as part of efforts to crack down further on Wall Street misdeeds, is considering banning certain banks from specific businesses. The New York Department of Financial Services has taken an increasingly hard line on financial institutions that have violated U.S. sanctions laws through their U.S. dollar clearing operations, imposing steep fines on them. But the head of that office, Benjamin Lawsky, said in a speech in Washington he could envision moving beyond fines to penalties that could hurt the institutions in more severe ways. "You could say no dollar clearing for a month or for a year or for six months," Lawsky said, adding that he is still thinking through the potential repercussions of such steps. Last year Lawsky's office blocked Deloitte LLP's financial advisory unit from working with New York state-regulated banks for a year as part of a settlement related to its review of money laundering controls
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