HSBC by the Numbers
March 25th, 2013
200: Full-time employees in HSBC USA’s Compliance Department from 2006 to 2009, out of total 16,500 employees, of which Anti-Money-Laundering-focused employees were only a “subset.”
1: Months after being hired in 2009 that HSBC USA’s AML director informed its Compliance official of HSBC USA’s “extremely high risk business model from AML perspective.”
17,700: Backlog of suspicious transaction alerts that had not yet been reviewed in 2010.
83: Number of “Matters Requiring Attention” notifications issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to HSBC USA from 2005-2010.
50,000: USD-denominated accounts opened by HSBC Mexico’s Cayman Islands “branch” with inadequate customer due diligence.
2,000: Number of HSBC USA accounts opened with untraceable bearer share corporations as the owner over the course of a decade. 28,000: Number of transactions between 2001 and 2007 sent through HSBC USA involving countries, groups, or individuals that U.S. has financial sanctions against. The countries include Libya, Sudan, Cuba, Burma, North Korea, and Iran.
25,000: Number of the above transactions, totaling $19.4 billion, involving groups or individuals in Iran.
$1 billion: Total amount of U.S. banknotes sold by HSBC USA to Al Rajhi, a Saudi bank with owners having ties to terrorist organizations, including al-Qaeda, according to U.S. intelligence reports.
$881 million: Value of transactions sent through HSBC USA on behalf of the Mexican Sinaloa cartel and Colombian Norte del Valle cartel.
$670 billion: Value of wire transfers between HSBC Mexico and HSBC USA that went unmonitored.
$200 trillion: Total value of wire transfers sent through HSBC USA without AML controls or monitoring.
$1.92 billion: Fine HSBC paid to the U.S. government to settle money laundering charges in December 2012.
$20.6 billion: HSBC worldwide profit before taxes for 2012.
0: Number of legal penalties that OCC imposed on HSBC USA during 2004-2010.
0: Number of arrests for executives of “the preferred financial institution of drug cartels and money launderers.”