HSBC damaged by publication of UK tax avoidance scheme

[David Guyatt]

In response to this breaking news - another crooked bank in action - HSBC has responded by saying that it had now changed its practices.

Oh, okay, that's alright then. Not even a botty will get smacked. Even though the whistleblower got sacked and said these practices continued through 2013.

Move along folks, nothing to see here. Not even a "double standard."

HSBC accused of helping 7,000 to avoid paying tax: Investigation finds bank used Swiss operation to help clients shield what they were really worth

• Offshore accounts are not illegally but often used to hide earnings
  
• Account details stolen by a hacker in 2007 were given to HMRC in 2010
  
• HSBC says it's now cut the number of Swiss accounts by nearly 70%
  

By FRANCESCA INFANTE FOR THE DAILY MAIL and COREY CHARLTON FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 23:05, 8 February 2015 | UPDATED: 07:15, 9 February 2015



+2
Probe: HSBC is alleged to have helped wealthy customes hide their cash and assets from the government to avoid paying their full tax bills

HSBC helped 7,000 wealthy Britons avoid millions of pounds in tax by using secret 'black' accounts, it was alleged today.
A BBC Panorama investigation claims the bank routinely used its operations in Switzerland to help clients shield their true value from the taxman and offered tips on how they could stay one step ahead of the law.
The programme, which will air on BBC1 tonight, has seen thousands of leaked accounts showing how bankers helped clients nearly 7,000 of them British to avoid taxes.
Offshore accounts are not illegal but they are often used as a way of hiding earnings from HM Revenue and Customs.
Some account details were stolen by a computer hacker in 2007 and were presented to HMRC in 2010.
The banking documents which form the expose have now become the biggest banking leak in history, The Guardian reported.
Among them are the revelations HSBC's Swiss bank allowed its clients to withdraw bricks of cash, allowed clients to conceal undeclared 'black accounts' and gave accounts to criminals and corrupt businessmen.
The documents show royalty were among those who benefited from the operation, as well as relatives of dictators and people implicated in cases of African corruption.
In one example, HSBC's Swiss bankers were prepared to help Emmanuel Shallop - a man later convicted of dealing in blood diamonds, the paper reported.
Around 1,100 people who had not paid what they should have done were identified, but almost five years later only one person has been prosecuted.
HMRC says that £135million in tax, interest and penalties has now been paid by those who hid their assets in Switzerland.
[B]RELATED ARTICLES[/B]

• Tories promise business a £10billion boost as party seeks to...BBC set to name businessmen who have put their cash in Swiss...
  

But Labour MP Margaret Hodge, chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, says they still need to be much tougher with those who seek to avoid tax.
She said: I just don't think the tax authorities have been strong enough, assertive enough, tough enough in securing for the taxpayer the monies that are due.'
HSBC claims that since the documents were leaked, it has radically overhauled its private banking business and reduced the number of Swiss accounts by almost 70 per cent since 2007.


+2
HSBC HQ in Canary Wharf: The bank claims that since the documents were leaked, it has overhauled its private banking business and reduced the number of Swiss accounts by almost 70 per cent since 2007

The man in charge of HSBC at the time, Stephen Green, was made a Conservative Peer and appointed to the government.
Lord Green was made a Minister eight months after HMRC had been given the leaked documents from his bank. He served as a Minister of Trade and Investment until 2013.
Lord Green told Panorama: As a matter of principle I will not comment on the business of HSBC past or present.'
But Panorama spoke to a whistleblower who said HSBC had still failed to implement changes when she worked there in 2013.
Sue Shelley, who was the private bank's head of compliance in Luxembourg, said: The verbal messages were great but they weren't put into practice.'
She was sacked after raising concerns and an unfair dismissal tribunal ruled in her favour.