Nicola Sharp | 30 September 2015
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In November, Argentina accused the banking giant of helping more than 4,000 clients evade taxes by moving their money to secret Swiss bank accounts.
HSBC has consistently denied the charges, saying it respects Argentine law. But this month, the Central Bank of Argentina has demanded HSBC Argentina president Gabriel Martino and vice president Miguel Angel Estevez be removed from their posts as they "had not directed the necessary measures to mitigate and adequately address the prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorist activities".
A statement issued by HSBC says that it "continues to function normally" but makes no mention of Martino or Estevez. At a time when the UK government is considering relaxing money laundering precautions the Argentinian situation is a clear indicator that banks are far from blameless when it comes to financial crime.
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