Ah, it seems like only yesterday Bank of America was caught laundering money for the Mexican Drug Cartels. Though to be fair Citigroup also got caught money laundering to Mexico. But don't worry other banks do the same thing.
From Reuters:
Executives of HSBC Holdings Plc and its U.S. subsidiary are scheduled to testify Tuesday before a Senate panel about how the London-based banking behemoth, after years of run-ins with U.S. authorities over alleged anti-money laundering lapses, has cleaned up its act.
In anticipation of the hearing, HSBC Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver sent a message to employees earlier this week: "Between 2004 and 2010, our anti-money laundering controls should have been stronger and more effective, and we failed to spot and deal with unacceptable behavior," Gulliver wrote. "It is right that we are held accountable and that we take responsibility for fixing what went wrong."
Good thing it ended in 2010 I guess. Wait for it...
Gulliver's memo implies that the bank's problems ended in 2010. But a Reuters investigation has found persistent and troubling lapses in the bank's anti-money laundering compliance since then.
Moreover, the problems arose in the very operation meant to show regulators that the bank could effectively monitor the trillions of dollars flowing annually through its offices in 80 countries and territories.
Woops
"There were multiple backlogs" of alerts, said Everett Stern, who worked in the New Castle building from October 2010 to November 2011. "The name of the game was to close as many as you possibly can."...
...Stern said that in the course of his work, he came across many suspicious transactions. Some involved parties he suspected of having ties to Hezbollah and Hamas - Islamist groups that the U.S. considers to be terrorist organizations. When he alerted his superiors to these dealings, he said, his concerns were dismissed.
Tuesday is going to be interesting. Banksters, Gangsters, and Terrorists oh my!