Page 150 - Bank Case Studies
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possibly revoke its charter to do business in the US. The FSA
repeatedly warned that even the threat of possible charter
withdrawal could have caused a fresh global financial crisis.
(3, 4)
No bank executive had to pay a single dollar or spend a day
in jail despite a decade of blatant abuses.
The DOJ admitted that it was worried that anything more
than a wrist slap for HSBC might undermine the world
economy. "Had the U.S. authorities decided to press
criminal charges," said Assistant Attorney General Lanny
Breuer at a press conference to announce the settlement,
"HSBC would almost certainly have lost its banking license in
the U.S., the future of the institution would have been under
threat and the entire banking system would have been
destabilized." (5)
This was HSBC’s already the bank's third strike. In fact, as a
334-page report issued by the Senate Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations made plain, HSBC ignored
an incredible quantity of official warnings. (7) HSBC was
accused of circumventing sanctions on Iran and North Korea
and servicing Saudi banks with jihadi links.
