HSBC Became Bank to Drug Cartels, Pays Big for Lapses

HSBC Became Bank to Drug Cartels, Pays Big for Lapses

In February 2008, Mexican authorities told the CEO of HSBC's Mexico unit that a local drug lord referred to the bank as the "place to launder money," U.S. prosecutors said on Tuesday, as they announced a record $1.92 billion settlement with the British bank.
Lax money laundering controls at HSBC allowed two cartels - one each in Mexico and Colombia - to move $881 million in drug proceeds through the bank over the second half of the last decade, according to prosecutors and federal court documents.