HONG KONG: HSBC said here the other day it had agreed to pay the authorities in Geneva 40 million Swiss francs (S$58 million) to settle an investigation into allegations of money laundering at its Swiss private bank.
The bank said in a statement that the payment is to compensate the authorities for past organisational failings and that no criminal charges would be filed.
In February Geneva’s public prosecutor searched HSBC’s lakeside Swiss offices as part of its probe.
HSBC’s Swiss unit has been in the spotlight ever since a former IT employee Hérvé Falciani fled Geneva in 2008 with files which were alleged to show evidence of tax evasion by its clients.
