HSBC in Swiss tax dodge scandal

The world’s second-largest bank, HSBC, stands accused of helping clients evade taxes and conceal assets.

Another week, another banking scandal. HSBC, the world's second-largest bank, stands accused of helping clients evade taxes and conceal assets. Its Swiss private bank allegedly colluded with clients to hide undeclared accounts and allowed international criminals to park their money with it.

The information stems from files leaked by a former employee in 2008 and has emerged from a French tax authority investigation. Around 7,000 UK clients are involved. HMRC says it has clawed £135m back from UK clients using the Swiss branch of HSBC. Lord Green, who was chief executive and then chairman of HSBC from 2003 to 2010, has not commented on the affair.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Andrew Van Sickle
Editor, MoneyWeek

Andrew is the editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He grew up in Vienna and studied at the University of St Andrews, where he gained a first-class MA in geography & international relations.

After graduating he began to contribute to the foreign page of The Week and soon afterwards joined MoneyWeek at its inception in October 2000. He helped Merryn Somerset Webb establish it as Britain’s best-selling financial magazine, contributing to every section of the publication and specialising in macroeconomics and stockmarkets, before going part-time.

His freelance projects have included a 2009 relaunch of The Pharma Letter, where he covered corporate news and political developments in the German pharmaceuticals market for two years, and a multiyear stint as deputy editor of the Barclays account at Redwood, a marketing agency.

Andrew has been editing MoneyWeek since 2018, and continues to specialise in investment and news in German-speaking countries owing to his fluent command of the language.