HSBC to Pay $352 Million to Resolve French Probe -- Update
15 November 2017 - 4:00AM
Dow Jones News
By Brian Blackstone
ZURICH-- HSBC Holdings PLC said Tuesday that its Swiss
private-banking unit will pay EUR300 million ($352 million) to
resolve charges that it helped clients evade taxes in France.
"HSBC is pleased to resolve this legacy investigation which
relates to conduct that took place many years ago," the bank said
in a statement. "HSBC has publicly acknowledged historical control
weaknesses at the Swiss Private Bank on a number of occasions and
has taken firm steps to address them."
French prosecutors began investigating HSBC in 2014 as part of a
widening probe into whether the bank breached laws authorizing only
French-registered lenders to sign up customers in the country. The
investigation also examined whether the bank was complicit in
laundering the proceeds of any tax evasion.
According to a statement from the French prosecutors office
Tuesday, more than EUR1.6 billion worth of client assets were
shielded from French taxes. French authorities said they discovered
the assets after seizing computer documents found at the French
home of a former HSBC employee in 2009.
HSBC said that under the agreement announced Tuesday, there is
no finding of guilt on the part of the Swiss Private Bank. It has
provisioned fully for the amount.
The settlement was the first in France under a new law passed
last year modeled on U.S. deferred prosecution agreements.
Write to Brian Blackstone at brian.blackstone@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 14, 2017 11:45 ET (16:45 GMT)
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