By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent A SWISS unit of HSBC “seriously violated financial market law” after breaching its money laundering obligations in connection with “two politically exposed persons”, a regulator has found. FINMA, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, said that the case involved transactions worth more than $300 million which were not properly scrutinised…
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NEWS: HSBC Switzerland ‘seriously violated the law’ after failure to check $300m coming from Lebanon

FINDINGS: Swiss regulator FINMA said HSBC Private Bank failed to recognise the indications of money laundering presented by these transactions; it likewise failed to satisfy requirements for the initiation and continuation of customer relationships with politically exposed persons, and was thus in serious breach of its due diligence obligations. The bank further failed to notify the Money Laundering Reporting Office over a protracted period. Our file pic shows HSBC Private Bank building in Geneva.