HSBC Holdings Plc faces investigation by US authorities and an inquiry by British lawmakers after admitting failings by its Swiss private bank that may have allowed some customers to dodge taxes.
US prosecutors have stepped up efforts to establish whether HSBC, the world’s second largest bank, helped Americans evade taxes after media reports said the bank had helped wealthy customers conceal millions of dollars of assets.
US authorities are also probing whether HSBC manipulated currency rates, and a US law enforcement official said the investigations could prompt the Department of Justice to revisit a 2012 deferred prosecution agreement with the bank.
The agreement was part of a $1.9 billion settlement that allowed HSBC to avoid criminal charges after it was found to have helped move hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit drug money through the US financial system.
“It is quite possible that the [agreement] may be reopened as a result of the bank’s activities on either or both the tax evasion and foreign exchange manipulation front,” said the US law enforcement official, who requested anonymity because the investigations are ongoing.
List of people who held HSBC accounts in Switzerland included football and tennis players, rock stars and Hollywood actors
British lawmakers said they plan to open an inquiry into the bank after it came under fire for its past practices in Switzerland.
HSBC shares fell 2 per cent by 0845 GMT yesterday, underperforming the European bank index. They fell 1.6 per cent on Monday after media reports about the activities of its Swiss operation based on client data from 2006-2007.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which coordinated the release of details of leaked client data, said a list of people who held HSBC accounts in Switzerland included football and tennis players, rock stars and Hollywood actors.
Reuters could not independently verify any of the names listed by the ICIJ. Having a Swiss bank account is not illegal and many are held for legitimate purposes.
The newly-released HSBC Swiss client list included royalty such as Morocco’s King Mohammed, politicians, corporate executives including former Santander chairman Emilio Botin, who died last year, and wealthy families, the ICIJ said. Uruguayan football player Diego Forlan, who was also on the list, on Monday denied evading taxes by hiding money in Swiss accounts with HSBC.
The documents also listed arms dealers, people linked to former dictators and traffickers in blood diamonds, and several individuals on the current US sanctions list, including Gennady Timchenko, an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We acknowledge and are accountable for past compliance and control failures,” HSBC said after news outlets published the allegations about its Swiss private bank.
The Guardian and other media cited documents obtained by the ICIJ via French newspaper Le Monde.
HSBC said its Swiss arm had not been fully integrated into HSBC after its purchase in 1999, allowing “significantly lower” standards of compliance and due diligence to persist.
The Guardian asserted that the files showed HSBC’s Swiss bank routinely allowed clients to withdraw ‘bricks’ of cash, often in foreign currencies which were of little use in Switzerland. HSBC also marketed schemes which were likely to enable wealthy clients to avoid European taxes and colluded with some to conceal undeclared accounts from domestic tax authorities, The Guardian said.The reports began a political debate in Britain ahead of a parliamentary election in May, with Margaret Hodge, a senior opposition Labour Party lawmaker, saying tax authorities had done too little to collect tax money.
HSBC’s admission of failing has renewed scrutiny on Stephen Green, who was executive chairman between 2006 and 2010. Green was later made a member of Britain’s upper house of parliament and served as minister for trade and investment between 2011 and 2013.