HSBC

HSBC has been implicated in a number of controversies and the bank has been repeatedly fined for money laundering (sometimes in relation to major criminal organizations such as the Sinaloa cartel)[15] or setting up large scale tax avoidance schemes.As part of the takeover conditions for the acquisition of the bank thereof, HSBC Holdings plc was required to relocate its world headquarters from Hong Kong to London in 1993.[67] On 11 May 2013, the new chief executive Stuart Gulliver announced that HSBC would refocus its business strategy and that a large-scale retrenchment of operations, particularly in respect of the retail sector, was planned.HSBC would no longer seek to be 'the world's local bank', as costs associated with this were spiraling and US$3.5 billion needed to be saved by 2013, with the aim of bringing overheads down from 55% of revenues to 48%."[73] In August 2011 "to align our U.S. business with our global network and meet the local and international needs of domestic and overseas clients", HSBC agreed to sell 195 branches in New York and Connecticut to First Niagara Financial Group Inc, and divestures to KeyCorp, Community Bank, N.A.[83] The United States Department of Justice, however, decided not to pursue criminal penalties, a decision which the New York Times labelled a "dark day for the rule of law.Many Syrians were angered when their accounts were judged high-risk and closed, despite the bank reportedly telling Mossack Fonseca it was "comfortable" with Rami Makhlouf as a customer, even though US Treasury sanctions against him were in effect at the time.[91] On 20 March 2017, the British newspaper The Guardian reported that hundreds of banks had helped launder KGB-related funds out of Russia, as uncovered by an investigation named Global Laundromat.[115] In May 2023, HSBC defeated a proposal, backed by its largest stakeholder Chinese insurer Ping An, to consider spinning off its Asia business into a Hong Kong-listed entity."It supports multiple online and offline payment options for customers and delivers transaction data through HSBC’s global digital platform, HSBCnet," the bank Head Art Tanseco said.[125] In January 2025, HSBC announced the closure of some of its investment banking units in Europe, UK and US as part of the ongoing restructuring effort by its CEO Georges Elhedery.[183] HSBCnet provides access to transaction banking functionality – ranging from payments and cash management to trade services features – as well as to research and analytical content from HSBC.[189] In October 2010, the United States OCC issued a Cease and Desist Order requiring HSBC to strengthen multiple aspects of its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program.[207] In July 2012, a US Senate committee issued a report[208] which stated that HSBC had been in breach of money-laundering rules, and had assisted Iran and North Korea to circumvent US nuclear-weapons sanctions.[209][210] In December 2012, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Lanny Breuer suggested that the U.S. government might resist criminal prosecution of HSBC which could lead to the loss of the bank's U.S. charter.[212] The FinCEN Files showed that HSBC continued to serve alleged criminals and corporations involved in government corruption, including $292 million for the Waked Family company Viva Panama between 2010 and 2016 before the United States Department of the Treasury declared it a drug money-laundering organization.[224] Peter Oborne, chief political commentator at The Daily Telegraph, resigned from the paper and in an open letter claimed the newspaper suppressed negative stories and dropped investigations into HSBC because of the bank's advertising.[232][230] Mark Johnson was later convicted of nine counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud related to front running the currency trades of HSBC clients and sentenced to two years in federal prison.[237][238] In December 2018, The Jerusalem Post reported that HSBC confirmed that the bank would divest from Elbit Systems Ltd., Israel's largest non-government-owned military contractor,[239] active in numerous defence-related industries.[247] In June 2020, on the eve of the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, HSBC took the rare step of wading into political issues by publicly backing Beijing's controversial new national security law for Hong Kong.[251][252] In response, Joshua Wong, a top Hong Kong pro-democracy activist decried the bank's position stating that HSBC's stance demonstrates "how China will use the national security law as new leverage for more political influence over foreign business community in this global city."[251] British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also commented on HSBC's stance, saying "Businesses will make their own judgment calls, but let me just put it this way – we will not sacrifice the people of Hong Kong over the altar of banker bonuses".[253] Since August 2020, HSBC has frozen the accounts of numerous pro-democratic organizations and activists, and their families, including Jimmy Lai, Ted Hui and the Good Neighbour North District Church.[254][255] In January 2021, the CEO of HSBC defended its relationship with Chinese authorities in Hong Kong and freezing of Ted Hui's account to the United Kingdom's parliamentary foreign affairs committee.[256][257] In February 2021, more than 50 members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China called for the immediate unfreezing of funds belonging to Ted Hui and his family,[258][259] In 2023 an All-party parliamentary group released a report regarding the actions of the bank's operations in Hong Kong.[264] The bank was later fined over £3 million by the Financial Services Authority for failing to exercise reasonable care with regards to data protection in connection with this and other lost customer information.[266] According to Global Witness and cited by BBC, "billions of dollars of assets" were held by the bank for the Libyan Investment Authority, controlled by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.[271] The environmentalist group Greenpeace has also alleged that the bank is contributing to the deforestation in Indonesia and subsequent hazardous impacts in the region by providing funds to palm oil producers for new plantations.The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), who was behind the ban, stated that the posters omitted material information about how HSBC planned to tackle the climate change and reduce its impact.[283] In October 2010, the International Rugby Board announced that they had concluded a 5-year deal with HSBC which granted them status as the first-ever title sponsor of the World Sevens Series.