STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 22 February 2013

[Demeter]

36. 5 Outrageous Revelations from Matt Taibbi's Takedown on HSBC's Drug Money Laundering

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/5-outrageous-revelations-matt-taibbis-takedown-hsbcs-drug-money-laundering?akid=10070.227380.jKGmA7&rd=1&src=newsletter795789&t=7&paging=off


1. By HSBC’s December settlement, the bank had already received two cease-and-desist letters.

2. HSBC covered its tracks when helping oppressive regimes avoid sanctions

3. HSBC ran offshore branches designed specifically for money laundering

In what Taibbi calls the “pinnacle innovation in the history of sleazy banking practices,” HSBC created a so-called “Cayman islands” branch in Mexico that let customers sidestep routine screening when opening accounts. The writer says clients “barely had to submit a real name and address, much less explain the legitimate origins of their deposits.” A 2002 audit revealed that 41 percent of accounts didn’t have complete client information.

When it turned out that American companies used these accounts to sell aircraft to drug cartels, HSBC Mexico finally shutout some of the “Cayman islands branch” clients—but not all of them. Taibbi notes that, “As late as 2012, when HSBC executives were being dragged before the U.S. Senate, the bank still had 20,000 such accounts worth some $670 million.”

4. HSBC did direct business with “the worst trafficking organizations imaginable.”

5. An entire HSBC department was tasked with quickly clearing suspicious behavior


MORE DETAILS AT LINK