Black Tuesday for HSBC

HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank and now one of the largest banks in North America, has agreed to pay US authorities a record-breaking US$1.9 billion in relation to suspect accounts and transactions. Chris Hamblin reviews what went wrong.

The British banking group has long expected to settle with many enforcement agencies simultaneously for a US$1.55 billion fine – setting aside that amount for the purpose and recently raising it to US$1.8 billion – but the final figure of US$1.921 billion exceeds even those expectations. [1] The settlement is split up into several civil agreements with the Department of Justice (DOJ), with which HSBC Group has signed a deferred prosecution agreement; the New York County District Attorney’s Office; the US Federal Reserve Board; the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC); the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC); and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). [2]