The Sword of Damocles: who controls HSBC in the aftermath of its deferred prosecution agreement with the United States Department of Justice?

HSBC has entered into a $1.92bn deferred prosecution with the Department of Justice in the United States to settle charges that the bank’s compliance systems and corporate governance controls had failed to prevent money laundering and sanctions violations on an industrial scale. The violations spann...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Northern Ireland legal quarterly 2020-03, Vol.63 (4), p.533-550
Main Author: O'Brien, Justin
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:HSBC has entered into a $1.92bn deferred prosecution with the Department of Justice in the United States to settle charges that the bank’s compliance systems and corporate governance controls had failed to prevent money laundering and sanctions violations on an industrial scale. The violations spanned the globe and demonstrated fundamental flaws with the bank’s business model. The article evaluates the terms of the settlement and explores the national and extra-territorial implications. It argues that the settlement, the largest ever imposed on a financial institution, marks a significant turning point in the use of criminal prosecution precisely because it occurred just as the still burgeoning London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) manipulation scandal reaches a denouement.
ISSN:0029-3105
2514-4936
DOI:10.53386/nilq.v63i4.402