– Hidden money? –
HSBC’s Swiss banking arm insisted it has undergone a “radical transformation”.
Franco Morra, the head of HSBC’s Swiss unit, said the bank had closed the accounts of clients “who did not meet our high standards”.
HSBC now has “strong compliance controls in place”, he told AFP in an email, adding that the revelations are “a reminder that the old business model of Swiss private banking is no longer acceptable”.
Notes in the leaked files indicate HSBC workers were aware of clients’ intentions to keep money hidden from national authorities.
Of one Danish account holder, an employee wrote: “All contacts through one of her 3 daughters living in London. Account holder living in Denmark, ie critical as it is a criminal act having an account abroad non declared.”
The files provide details on over 100,000 HSBC clients, including people targeted by US sanctions, such as Turkish businessman Selim Alguadis and Gennady Timchenko, an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Alguadis told the ICIJ it was prudent to keep savings offshore, while a spokesman for Timchenko said he was fully compliant with tax matters.
Other individuals named on the list include designer Diane von Furstenberg, who told the ICIJ the accounts were inherited from her parents, and model Elle Macpherson, whose lawyers told the ICIJ she was fully compliant with UK tax law.
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