The SFO said the proposed deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) had already been approved in principle by senior judge Brian Leveson. It said it would apply for final approval at Southwark Crown Court at a 1000 GMT on Monday, Nov. 30.

No further details of the case were immediately available.

"The SFO is unable to provide any further comment until after the hearing on Monday," the agency said.

A DPA is a court-approved deal under which a company admits wrongdoing but sees legal proceedings suspended in return for a range of sanctions that can include a fine, payment of compensation and monitoring.

Introduced last year, DPAs offer another tool for prosecutors struggling to bring to book corporate wrongdoers who rely on the cost and complexity of cross border investigations to evade justice.

(Reporting by Kirstin Ridley, editing by Huw Jones)