Page 15 - HSBC (D) Case Study
P. 15
The House financial
services committee report
said the UK interventions
“played a significant role in
ultimately persuading the
DoJ [Department of
Justice] not to prosecute
HSBC”.
Instead of pursuing a
prosecution, the bank
agreed to pay $1.921bn (£1.2bn) to settle the action. (3, 4)
If HSBC had been found guilty of the potential charges,
the US government would have been required to review
and 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
