HSBC to pay record fine of $1.9 billion for laundering terrorist and drug cartel money.  FFA supporters’ emails to Comptroller of Currency officials may have helped.

Florida Family Association reported in an email alert dated August 15, 2012 “US Homeland Security Senate Subcommittee reports that HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is transferring funds to terrorists groups, Iran and drug cartels.”

The email alert, posted below, asked Florida Family Association supporters to send emails to encourage Will Thomas Curry, Comptroller of Currency (OCC), and five other OCC officials to consider revoking HSBC’s license.  US Senator Carl Levin’s assessment “If an international bank won’t police its own affiliates to stop illicit money, the regulatory agencies should consider whether to revoke the charter of the U.S. bank being used to aid and abet that illicit money.”
 
Thousands of Florida Family Association supporters sent emails to officials.

Reuters reports:
 
HSBC Holdings Plc agreed to pay a record $1.92 billion in fines to U.S. authorities for allowing itself to be used to launder a river of drug money flowing out of Mexico and other banking lapses.
 
In a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department, the bank acknowledged it failed to maintain an effective program against money laundering and failed to conduct basic due diligence on some of its account holders.

Under the agreement, which was reported by Reuters last week, the bank agreed to take steps to fix the problems, forfeit $1.256 billion, and retain a compliance monitor. The bank also agreed to pay $665 million in civil penalties to regulators including to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve, and the Treasury Department.

Click here to read the full report at Reuters.

Florida Family Association thanks the thousands of supporters who sent emails to Will Thomas Curry, Comptroller of Currency (OCC), and five other OCC officials.  Your emails encouraged OCC officials to take action.

Email alert dated August 15, 2012

US Homeland Security Senate Subcommittee reports that HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is transferring funds to terrorists groups, Iran and drug cartels.  Email campaign has been deactivated.

Will Thomas Curry, President Obama’s March 2012 appointee as the new Comptroller of Currency (OCC), follow the bipartisan US Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee’s report recommending revocation of HSBC’s charter to operate as a bank in the United States?  Or will the OCC continue to permit HSBC to facilitate the transfer of funds to terrorist organizations, Iran and drug cartels?  HSBC is the abbreviation for Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

The United States Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations issued a report on July 16, 2012 which stated in part: 

• In 2010, HSBC was cited by its federal regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), for multiple severe AML (anti-money laundering) deficiencies, including a failure to monitor $60 trillion in wire transfer and account activity; a backlog of 17,000 unreviewed account alerts regarding potentially suspicious activity; and a failure to conduct AML due diligence before opening accounts for HSBC affiliates.  Subcommittee investigators found that the OCC had failed to take a single enforcement action against the bank, formal or informal, over the previous six years, despite ample evidence of AML problems. 
• Circumventing OFAC Safeguards.  Foreign HSBC banks actively circumvented U.S. safeguards at HUBS designed to block transactions involving terrorists, drug lords, and rogue regimes.  In one case examined by the Subcommittee, two HSBC affiliates sent nearly 25,000 transactions involving $19.4 billion through their HBUS accounts over seven years without disclosing the transactions’ links to Iran.
• Servicing High Risk Affiliates.  HSBC’s U.S. bank, HBUS, offered correspondent banking services to HSBC Bank Mexico, and treated it as a low risk client, despite its location in a country facing money laundering and drug trafficking challenges, high risk clients like casas de cambio, high risk products like U.S. dollar accounts in the Cayman Islands, a secrecy jurisdiction, and weak AML controls.  The Mexican affiliate transported $7 billion in physical U.S. dollars to HBUS from 2007 to 2008, outstripping other Mexican banks, even one twice its size, raising red flags that the volume of dollars included proceeds from illegal drug sales in the United States.

Bloomberg reported on July 25, 2012 HSBC Fined $27.5 Million in Mexican Money-Laundering Probe.  HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), Europe’s biggest bank, said its Mexican unit paid a $27.5 million fine to the nation’s regulators for non-compliance with money-laundering systems and controls.  The infringements relate to the late reporting of 1,729 unusual transactions and the failure to report 39 others, the London-based bank said in a statement today.  Click here to read the full report at Bloomberg. 

Additionally, HSBC operates under strict Sharia supervision.  HSBC Amanah web site HSBCAmanah.com provides “Islamic Financial Solutions” with “Full Sharia Supervision.” HSBC which has extensive operations in the United States “is one of the Western world’s leaders in Sharia-Compliant Finance and was recently fined after having been revealed to have been a facilitator for terrorism financing, money laundering and narco-terrorism” according to Shariahfinancewatch.org

The United States Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Permanent Subcommittee rebuked the OCC for their failure to act “In an age of international terrorism, drug violence in our streets and on our borders, and organized crime, stopping illicit money flows that support those atrocities is a national security imperative,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., subcommittee Chairman. “HSBC used its U.S. bank as a gateway into the U.S. financial system for some HSBC affiliates around the world to provide U.S. dollar services to clients while playing fast and loose with U.S. banking rules.  Due to poor AML controls, HBUS exposed the United States to Mexican drug money, suspicious travelers cheques, bearer share corporations, and rogue jurisdictions.  The bank’s federal bank regulator, the OCC, tolerated HSBC’s weak AML system for years.  If an international bank won’t police its own affiliates to stop illicit money, the regulatory agencies should consider whether to revoke the charter of the U.S. bank being used to aid and abet that illicit money.”

If you bank with HSBC you are supporting one of the largest financial institutions in the world that support Sharia and transfer funds for terrorists.   There will be more alerts on this issue.

Email campaign has been deactivated.

Contact information:

Thomas Curry, Comptroller
Comptroller of the Currency
Administrator of National Banks
Washington, DC 20219

thomas.curry@occ.treas.gov
Comptroller of Currency

sally.belshaw@occ.treas.gov
Deputy Comptroller Large Banks

michael.Brosnan@occ.treas.gov
Senior Deputy Comptroller Large Bank Supervision

william.haas@occ.treas.gov
Deputy Comptroller Midsize Bank Supervision

carlos.hernandez@occ.treas.gov
Director for International Bank Supervision

regs.comments@occ.treas.gov
Regulation Comments

Email Subject Line:

HSBC currency violations warrant revocation of bank charter according to US Senate subcommittee.

Email Content:

I was alarmed to read the United States Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations July 16, 2012 report which found that “HSBC and its U.S. affiliate exposed the U.S. financial system to a wide array of money laundering, drug trafficking, and terrorist financing risks due to poor anti-money laundering controls.”

It is difficult to comprehend why “The bank’s federal bank regulator, the OCC, tolerated HSBC’s weak AML system for years” as pointed out by Senator Carl Levin.

It is perplexing that “Foreign HSBC banks actively circumvented U.S. safeguards at HUBS designed to block transactions involving terrorists, drug lords, and rogue regimes” without swift response from OCC.

I wholeheartedly agree with Senator Levin’s assessment that “If an international bank won’t police its own affiliates to stop illicit money, the regulatory agencies should consider whether to revoke the charter of the U.S. bank being used to aid and abet that illicit money.”

HSBC’s multitudes of violations which threaten the health, safety and welfare of all Americans have gone on far too long.  I urge you to revoke HSBC’s bank charter.

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