HSBC
Profile
HSBC (formerly Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank) was founded in 1865. HSBC has been charged on multiple counts of laundering money for groups like the Sinaloa drug cartel via a scheme by which anyone in Mexico was allowed open a U.S.-dollar account at the “Cayman Islands branch” of HSBC Mexico. It has paid out two sets of fines for $249 million and $470 million for abuses in seizing and selling houses whose owners have fallen behind with mortgage repayments, as well as $765 million in fines for its role in the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis. HSBC has also paid out $618 million in fines to the U.K and the U.S. governments for its role in the global foreign exchange rate fixing scandal.
retail banking, corporate banking, investment banking, mortgage loans, private banking, wealth management, credit cards, finance and insurance
Violations
| Top 5 Offense Groups (Groups Defined) | Penalty Total | Number of Records |
|---|---|---|
| financial offenses | $5,464,337,775 | 32 |
| competition-related offenses | $944,000,000 | 3 |
| employment-related offenses | $79,012,188 | 13 |
| consumer-protection-related offenses | $13,321,500 | 7 |
| government-contracting-related offenses | $9,118,861 | 2 |
(April 19, 2021)
Stories
HSBC helped oil and gas industry raise $47bn despite net-zero pledge
The bank's work for businesses expanding production of fossil fuels is a stark contrast to its climate change promises
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HSBC’S DIRTIEST DEALS:HOW HSBC FUNDS SUFFERING WORLDWIDE
Executive summary & introduction
UK-headquartered HSBC is one of the biggest financiers of fossil fuels in the world.
Banking on Climate Chaos
This report analyzes fossil fuel financing from the world’s 60 largest commercial and investment banks — aggregating their leading roles in lending and underwriting of debt and equity issua
Gangster Bankers: Too Big to Jail - How HSBC hooked up with drug traffickers and terrorists. And got away with it
Paradise Papers leak reveals secrets of the world elite's hidden wealth
The world’s biggest businesses, heads of state and global figures in politics, entertainment and sport who have sheltered their wealth in secretive tax havens are being revealed this week in a major new investigation into Britain’s offshore empires.
Former HSBC banker found guilty of fraud in the US
image copyrightReuters
HSBC to pay customers £4m over ‘unreasonable’ fees
HSBC is to pay £4m in compensation to thousands of customers who were charged “unreasonable” fees for debt collection after falling behind on repayments.
HSBC Bank Executives Face Charges in $3.5 Billion Currency Case (Published 2016)
The global banking giant HSBC has repeatedly found itself in the cross hairs of American regulators and prosecutors in recent years. To settle allegations of money-laundering and mortgage abuses, it has paid billions of dollars — but has not been criminally charged.
HSBC escaped US money-laundering charges after Osborne's intervention
The US government decided not to pursue criminal charges against HSBC for allowing terrorists and drug dealers to launder millions of dollars after George Osborne and the UK banking regulator intervened t
HSBC chief Stuart Gulliver tops investors’ choice for removal
HSBC’s Stuart Gulliver is the European bank chief executive who investors would most like to be replaced, according to a recent poll of large shareholders.
Sky-high stakes, yet HSBC is taking risks with US justice
HSBC’s directors should have spent less time pondering a move to Hong Kong and more time ensuring the bank will still have a business in the US in a few years’ time.
HSBC probed by SEC over Asia hiring practices
HSBC is being investigated by US authorities over its hiring of people linked to Asian governments, adding to the bank’s litigation worries, which helped to drag it to a fourth-quarter loss.
HSBC sued over Mexico drug cartel murders
The families of several US citizens killed at the hands of some of Mexico’s most notorious drug cartels are suing HSBC, claiming the bank can be held liable as it allowed the syndicates to launder billions of dolla
Why did HSBC shut down bank accounts?
image copyrightGetty Images
Hong Kong company sorry after 'vacuum cleaner for her' HSBC Valentine offer
By ,
3 Min Read
LONDON (Reuters) - Hong Kong telecoms company HKT apologized after a Valentine’s day deal it sent to HSBC staff offering discounted laptops “for him” but vacuum cleaners and kitchen appliances “for her” angered employees over its sexist implications.
- A Big Deal? Corporate Social Responsibility and the Finance Sector in Europe (CORE Coalition, December 2005).
- Farming Money: How European Banks and Private Finance Profit from Food Speculation and Land Grabs (Friends of the Earth Europe, January 2012).
- Shaping the Future of Sustainable Finance (WWF and BankTrack, January 2006)
- The Banks and Society: Rebuilding Trust (Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility, March 2011).
- Too Big to Jail: Inside the Obama Administration's Decision not to Hold Wall Street Accountable (Republican Staff of the House Committee on Financial Services, July 2016).
- U.S. Vulnerabilities to Money Laundering, Drugs, and Terrorist Financing: HSBC Case History (U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, July 2012).
- Undue Diligence: How Banks Do Business with Corrupt Regimes (Global Witness, March 2009).
Activism
Lawmakers challenge HSBC on Hong Kong activist's accounts
Reuters | February 7, 2021
An international coalition of lawmakers has written to HSBC Holdings Chairman Mark Tucker, calling on the bank to unfreeze Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Ted Hui’s accounts.
Hong Kong protest fallout hits HSBC and the London Stock Exchange
Laura He | CNN Business | January 2, 2020
Two of the United Kingdom's leading financial institutions are being caught up in the political fallout from months of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
HSBC, one of the world’s ten biggest banks, has long been addicted to fossil fuels.
Unite the Union | April 8, 2019
Members of Unite the union will be protesting outside the HSBC annual general meeting (AGM) on Friday (12 April) about the bank’s refusal to give them pensions' justice.
HSBC grilled over complicity in human rights abuse
Ethical Consumer | April 24, 2018
HSBC’s annual general meeting on Friday was attended by activists from War on Want and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, asking the bank about its business dealings with companies selling weapons and military equipment to Israel.
Campaigners to demonstrate outside HSBC AGM demanding pensions' justice
Published by Market Forces
If built, the Adani Group’s Carmichael coal mine in Australia’s Galilee Basin will open up billions of tonnes of thermal coal that once burnt will release millions of tonnes of carbon emissions annually, wrecking our hopes to avoid the worst of climate change.
- Midland Clawback Campaign
- Americans for Financial Reform
- BankTrack
- Corporate Watch
- Demos
- Inner City Press
- Global Witness
- Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility
- Public Citizen
- Rainforest Action Network
- International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
- NAACP
- Service Employees International Union
- U.S. PIRG
- Bank on our Future
- Market forces
- UNI Global Union
- Palestine Solidarity Campaign
- National Union of Bank Employees
& Lawsuits
HSBC's Secret Files: The Inside Tale Of What Happened After It Apologized For Being Dirty
FinCen Files Team | BuzzFeed News | September 21, 2020
HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, had just been caught allowing a network of drug kingpins, including the notorious Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, to launder more than $880 million through its accounts.
HSBC has confirmed it is to pay US authorities $1.9bn (£1.2bn) in a settlement over money laundering, the largest paid in such a case.
FinCen Files Team | BBC News | September 20, 2020
HSBC has confirmed it is to pay US authorities $1.9bn (£1.2bn) in a settlement over money laundering, the largest paid in such a case.
HSBC busted for moving dirty money
Jonathan Stempel | Reuters | January 10, 2019
HSBC Holdings Plc has agreed to pay $30 million to settle litigation by investors who accused 11 big banks of rigging the roughly $9 trillion government agency bond market from 2009 to 2015.
HSBC to pay $765 million to settle U.S. mortgage securities mis-selling claim
Reuters | October 9, 2018
HSBC on Tuesday said it would pay $765 million to the United States Justice Department to settle claims it mis-sold mortgage-backed securities between 2005 and 2007.
HSBC to pay $470 million to resolve mortgage servicing probe by U.S. government, states
Sarah N. Lynch | Reuters | February 5, 2016
HSBC Holdings Plc will pay $470 million to settle parallel U.S. federal and state civil charges alleging the bank’s mortgage servicing arm engaged in abusive foreclosure and loan origination practices, government officials announced on Friday.
HSBC to pay $600m for Safra fraud
Jeane Treanor | The Guardian | December 17, 2001
HSBC yesterday pleaded guilty in a US federal court to criminal charges concerning a multi-million fraud which took place inside the Edmund Safra financial business it bought two years ago.
NUBE protests against human rights violations by HSBC
Mohamed Basyir | The Straits Times | December 15, 2018
National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) members held a picket today outside the HSBC Bank Malaysia Queensbay branch to protest against alleged injustice toward its employees.
HSBC announce plans for up to 50,000 job cuts worldwide as the company ‘pivots’ towards Asian markets
The World Weekly | June 9, 2015
HSBC, the world’s third largest bank, has announced plans to cut about 10% of its global workforce in order to shift capital away from low return activities and to redeploy it in the higher growth markets of Asia.
HSBC sued over 'anti-gay' dismissal
Helen Dunne | The Guardian | April 16, 2005
In the City's first case of homosexual harrassment, the former global head of equity trading at HSBC is suing the investment bank for 'unfair dismissal on grounds of sexual orientation' after it fired him for 'gross personal misconduct'.
Financials
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Political Influence
OpenSecrets.org Profile of HSBC Holding
& Evasion
HSBC Swiss unit to pay $192 million in latest U.S. tax evasion deal
Jon Miller | Reuters | December 10, 2019
The Swiss private banking unit of HSBC Holdings Plc will pay $192.4 million to resolve a U.S. probe of its role in helping wealthy Americans evade taxes by using undeclared Swiss bank accounts, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Tuesday.
HSBC to pay €300m to settle tax investigation
The BBC | November 15, 2017
HSBC has agreed to pay €300m ($353m; £266m) to French authorities to settle a long-running investigation into tax evasion by French clients.
HSBC bank 'helped clients dodge millions in tax'
The BBC | February 10, 2015
Banking giant HSBC helped wealthy clients across the world evade hundreds of millions of pounds worth of tax, the BBC has learned.
Procurement
HSBC contracts with the U.S. Federal Government (via USA SPENDING).