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HSBC escaped US money-laundering charges after UK intervention
Source: The Guardian
HSBC escaped US money-laundering charges after UK intervention
Chancellor George Osborne and a British banking regulator warned of
‘global financial disaster’ if bank were prosecuted, House report says
Rupert Neate in New York
Monday 11 July 2016 20.36 BST
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 to warn that prosecuting Britain’s biggest bank could lead to a “global financial disaster”.
On Monday, a congressional report published letters and emails from Osborne and Financial Services Authority (FSA) officials to their US counterparts warning that launching criminal action against HSBC in 2012 could have sparked a “financial calamity”.
The House financial services committee report said the UK interventions “played a significant role in ultimately persuading the DoJ (Department of Justice) not to prosecute HSBC”. Instead of pursuing a prosecution, the bank agreed to pay a record $1.92bn (£1.4bn) fine.
The report revealed that Osborne wrote to Ben Bernanke, who was then the Federal Reserve chairman, and Timothy Geithner, the then treasury secretary, to warn that prosecuting a “systemically important financial institution” like HSBC “could lead to (financial) contagion” and pose “very serious implications for financial and economic stability, particularly in Europe and Asia”.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Chancellor George Osborne and a British banking regulator warned of
‘global financial disaster’ if bank were prosecuted, House report says
Rupert Neate in New York
Monday 11 July 2016 20.36 BST
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 to warn that prosecuting Britain’s biggest bank could lead to a “global financial disaster”.
On Monday, a congressional report published letters and emails from Osborne and Financial Services Authority (FSA) officials to their US counterparts warning that launching criminal action against HSBC in 2012 could have sparked a “financial calamity”.
The House financial services committee report said the UK interventions “played a significant role in ultimately persuading the DoJ (Department of Justice) not to prosecute HSBC”. Instead of pursuing a prosecution, the bank agreed to pay a record $1.92bn (£1.4bn) fine.
The report revealed that Osborne wrote to Ben Bernanke, who was then the Federal Reserve chairman, and Timothy Geithner, the then treasury secretary, to warn that prosecuting a “systemically important financial institution” like HSBC “could lead to (financial) contagion” and pose “very serious implications for financial and economic stability, particularly in Europe and Asia”.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/11/hsbc-us-money-laundering-george-osborne-report
Too big to jail?
2 replies
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