HSBC Archives - Econ70

Criminal Incentives

By Econ70 | 12/19/2012

Last week, HSBC paid a $1.92 billion penalty for laundering money for murderers. Today, UBS is fined $1.5 billion for its part in rigging LIBOR over a multiyear period! While these banks will now “beef up their compliance procedures” and fire some traders, unless top management serves prison time, these toothless penalties are simply a…

Doing the Laundry

By Econ70 | 12/11/2012

After failing to monitor trillions (with a T) in wire transfers over a period of years, from very unsavory characters and regimes, HSBC agreed to a $1.92 billion settlement. HSBC encouraged vast illegal transactions because there’s so much money to be laundered, profits are very good and the chances of being caught are low as…