The US Department of Justice is re-examining a deal that shields HSBC from prosecution for earlier infractions as the agency investigates allegations that the bank colluded in tax-dodging by clients of its Swiss operation.
The biggest London-listed lender was this week forced to admit that its Swiss private bank may have held accounts for tax-dodging customers after account details of more than 100,000 of its clients were leaked to news organisations.
The revelations — including claims that HSBC’s Swiss unit handed large, untraceable bricks of cash in foreign currencies to clients and colluded with them to conceal “black” accounts from tax authorities — have provoked a