HSBC to spend $700m after 'stunning failures'

HSBC will spend $700m over the next five years in an attempt to tackle money laundering after it was lambasted by US authorities and fined $1.9bn yesterday.

The bank said in a statement it had undertaken a comprehensive overhaul of its structure, controls, and procedures following an agreement with the US Department of Justice. HSBC said in its statement it had: "commenced a review of all Know Your Customer files across the entire Group - the first phase of this remediation will cost an estimated US$700m over five years." It comes after the bank was found to have inadequate procedures in place to prevent money laundering. US authorities said they had seen "dangerous practices" at HSBC which allowed the bank to pass money to "drug kingp...