European plane maker Airbus will avoid criminal prosecution after agreeing to pay a total of €3.6 billion (U.S. $4 billion) in penalties to prosecutors in the United States, United Kingdom, and France over an “endemic” bribery scandal that saw the company pay bribes to win contracts in 20 countries around the world.

The total is the world’s largest global resolution for bribery.

Neil Hodge is a freelance business journalist and photographer based in Nottingham, United Kingdom. He writes on insurance and risk management, corporate governance, internal audit, compliance, and legal...