HSBC takes responsibility after report claims it helped clients hide millions of pounds from tax authorities

HSBC has been accused of helping clients to hide huge sums of money from tax collectors, according to documents obtained by French newspaper Le Monde. 

 

Thousands of pages spanning from 2005 to 2007 show how the Swiss arm of the world’s second largest bank not only failed to identify and report clients evading taxes, but also unlawfully helped them by giving out large sums of untraceable cash and offering advice on how to escape the attention of domestic tax authorities.

 

The documents were leaked in 2007 by a computer expert who was working for the bank in Geneva at the time. They reveal details of around 30,000 accounts around the world whose assets amount to $120bn (£78bn).

 

Since falling into the hands of the French press, the inflammatory papers have been circulated to The Guardian, BBC's Panorama and the Consortium of Investigative Journalists. They have also been studied by the French authorities, who in 2013 deduced that 99.8 per cent of its citizens on the list were dodging taxes. 

 

Margaret Hodge, chairwoman of the Public Accounts Committee, told the BBC that authorities had not acted quickly enough: "I just don't think the tax authorities have been strong enough, assertive enough, brave enough, tough enough in securing for the British taxpayer the monies that are due."

 

The bank has taken responsibility, releasing a statement saying: “We acknowledge and are accountable for past compliance and control failures”. 

 

However, it added that the Swiss arm was not fully integrated into HSBC when it was purchased in 1999, which resulted in “significantly lower” standards of practice.