HSBC Sued Over Drug Cartel Murders After Laundering Probe

Families of U.S. citizens murdered by drug gangs in Mexico sued HSBC Holdings Plc, claiming the bank can be held responsible for the deaths because it let cartels launder billions of dollars to operate their businesses.

The lawsuit brings fresh scrutiny to the Mexican activities of HSBC, which in 2012 paid $1.9 billion to resolve a criminal investigation into whether it violated U.S. sanctions laws and laundered at least $881 million on behalf of drug cartels.

HSBC said it would fight the claims in the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Brownsville, Texas.

The new case recounts a series of murders in 2010 and 2011 in horrific detail, arguing that the bank should be held to account for them under the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act.

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HSBC reaches $601M settlement over charges of ‘abusive mortgage practices’

HSBC agreed to a $601 million settlement with a series of federal agencies and nearly every state over charges that the bank engaged in mortgage origination, servicing and foreclosure abuses.

The massive settlement with HSBC was jointly announced Friday by the Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 49 states and the District of Columbia.

As part of that settlement, HSBC will pay a total of $470 million in relief to consumers and payments to federal and state parties, and will be bound to mortgage servicing standards and be subject to independent monitoring of its compliance with the agreement, the DOJ said in a statement.

“This agreement is the result of a coordinated effort between federal and state partners to hold HSBC accountable for abusive mortgage practices,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Stuart Delery.

“This agreement provides for $370 million in creditable consumer relief to benefit homeowners across the country and requires HSBC to reform their servicing standards,” Delery added. “The Department of Justice remains committed to rooting out financial fraud and holding bad actors accountable for their actions.”

In a separate, but related, announcement, the Federal Reserve announced that HSBC will pay $131 million to settle similar claims.

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HSBC Is Ordered To Unseal Report For Public To See

A federal judge ruled Thursday that the public has a right to see a secret report on HSBC Holdings PLC’s fight to keep out dirty money, a decision that could upend the way companies privately hash out deals with the government.

The ruling concerns the report of a so-called outside monitor that was appointed to police HSBC as a condition of the company’s $1.9 billion settlement with the U.S. government in 2012, in which it admitted to failing to catch money laundering and violating sanctions. As has been the case in other similar cases, the HSBC monitor’s reports have so far been kept private.

U.S. District Judge John Gleeson wrote in the ruling that “the public has a First Amendment right to see” the monitor’s report, though he said the company and the Justice Department can suggest redactions and that some portions can remain under seal. HSBC, the Justice Department and the monitor, former prosecutor Michael Cherkasky, had all fought attempts to make the report public.

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HSBC Halts Mortgage Options To Chinese Nationals Buying U.S. Real Estate

From Reuters:

Europe’s biggest lender HSBC will no longer provide mortgages to some Chinese nationals who buy real estate in the United States, a policy change that comes as Beijing is battling to stem a swelling crowd of citizens trying to get money out of China.

 

An HSBC spokesman in New York told Reuters on Wednesday that the new policy went into effect last week, roughly a month after China suspended Standard Chartered and DBS Group Holdings Ltd from conducting some foreign exchange business and as authorities try to limit capital outflows.

 

Realtors of luxury property in cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Vancouver, said more than 80 percent of wealthy Chinese buyers have ties to China.

 

Luxury homes news website Mansion Global, which first reported the HSBC policy change, said it would affect Chinese nationals holding temporary visitor ‘B’ visas if the majority of their income and assets are maintained in China.

Condoleezza Rice has been drafted in to advise HSBC on the review of its headquarters, Sky News learns

The former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been drafted in to advise HSBC on the future location of its headquarters even as the bank’s board has ruled out a move across the Atlantic.

Sky News understands that Ms Rice is among a number of global political figures who have been asked by HSBC’s board to provide advice about the geopolitical context of its looming decision.

Europe’s biggest bank has said it will provide an update on its review when it reports annual results next month, but insiders say that HSBC is keen to announce a firm decision that day, which falls ten months after it said it would look at leaving London.

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HSBC ‘Scot Free’ Over Swiss Tax Dodge Claims

HM Revenue and Customs boss Dame Lin Homer has been accused of allowing HSBC to “get away scot free” after she said it was unlikely to pursue allegations that the bank’s Swiss arm helped wealthy clients dodge tax.

Dame Lin confirmed to the Commons Public Accounts Committee that the authority would be unlikely to take action against the banking giant.

The admission comes after the Financial Conduct Authority announced it would not take any formal action on the allegation.

It prompted Conservative MP Stephen Phillips, who sits on the committee, to complain: “It looks as though they have got away scot free.”

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FCA denies ‘going soft’ on banks – BBC

The acting head of Britain’s main financial regulator has denied softening her stance, after her decision last month to drop a wide-ranging review into banks’ behaviour sparked concerns about political interference.

Antipathy to banks has surged since some were bailed out with public money after the 2008 credit crisis. Since then global and local scandals including the rigging of currency rates and interest rate benchmarks have led to multi-million pound fines for banks including Barclays and HSBC.

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HSBC Downgraded by JPMorgan as Bad Loans in Asia Set to Surge

HSBC Holdings Plc will be one of the worst performers among European banks this year as waning growth in emerging markets more than doubles the bank’s bad loans in Asia, according to analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

HSBC’s non-performing loans in the region, which accounts for about 39 percent of HSBC’s lending, may jump to $5.4 billion by year-end from $2.2 billion in June, analysts led by Raul Sinha wrote in a note on Wednesday, when downgrading the stock to underweight from neutral. In a tougher scenario, the lender’s bad debts in the region could surge to $15.3 billion, according to the note.

“With the rising probability of an emerging-market credit cycle likely to be priced into bank valuations, we expect HSBC to underperform relative to European banks,” Sinha said. “Given Asia is the largest component of HSBC’s emerging market exposure and that non-performing loans are rising, we believe that provisions are likely to pick up.”

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Commerzbank sues BNY Mellon, Wells Fargo, HSBC over mortgage losses

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Commerzbank AG has sued four banks in the United States, claiming that they failed to properly monitor billions of dollars in toxic mortgage-backed securities acquired by the German lender before the 2008 financial crisis.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp and units of Deutsche Bank AG, Wells Fargo & Co and HSBC Holdings Plc were named in the lawsuits filed on Wednesday in Manhattan federal court.

BNY Mellon was the trustee for over $1 billion in mortgage-backed securities bought by Commerzbank and $1.3 billion of investments tied to a collateralized debt obligation, Millstone II CDO, court documents showed.

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HSBC : whistleblower jailed for five years over biggest leak in banking history

Hervé Falciani, the whistleblower who exposed wrongdoing at HSBC’sSwiss private bank, has been sentenced to five years in prison by a Swiss court.

The former IT worker was condemned in his absence for his role in the biggest leak in banking history. He is currently living in France, where he sought refuge from Swiss justice, and did not attend the trial.

A federal Swiss court found Falciani guilty of financial espionage on Friday, but he was acquitted of other charges, including that of violating commercial secrecy.

While working on the database of HSBC’s Swiss private bank, Falciani downloaded the details of around 130,000 holders of secret Swiss accounts. The information was handed to French investigators inDecember 2008, and then circulated to other European governments.

It was used to prosecute tax evaders including Arlette Ricci, heir toFrance’sNina Ricci perfume empire, and to pursue Emilio Botín, the late chairman of Spain’s Santander bank.

HSBC was fined £28m by the Geneva authorities earlier this year, after investigators concluded that “organisational deficiencies” had allowed money laundering to take place at its Swiss subsidiary.

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