汇丰失足的代价

By 2007, John Root, HSBC’s head of Latin America compliance, appeared to be fed up.

到2007年，汇丰银行(HSBC)拉美合规部门主管约翰·卢特(John Root)似乎已经受够了。

Britain’s biggest bank was nearly five years into its 2002 purchase of Grupo Financiero Bital, a Mexican lender that HSBC had acknowledged internally was lacking a compliance department at the time of its acquisition.

这家英国最大银行于2002年收购了墨西哥银行Grupo Financiero Bital，汇丰在内部承认，在并购之时，该墨西哥银行没有合规部门。

On July 17 of that year, Mr Root told his counterpart in Mexico that his team “needs some cojones, and must act.

2007年7月17日，卢特告诉墨西哥的合规部门主管，他的团队“需要一些胆量，而且必须行动起来。

“I am quite concerned that the [anti-money laundering] committee is not functioning properly. Alarmed, even. I am close to picking up the phone to your CEO, Mr Root wrote in an email to Ramon Garcia Gibson, head of compliance for HSBC’s Mexico unit.

卢特在写给汇丰墨西哥分行合规部门主管拉曼·加西亚·吉布森(Ramon Garcia Gibson)的邮件中称：“我非常担心，（反洗钱）委员会没有正常发挥作用。这简直叫人害怕。我差点就打电话给你们的CEO了。

Such efforts by HSBC to change the unit’s culture proved insufficient.

事实证明，汇丰在改革墨西哥分行的文化方面没有付出足够的努力。

The problem, according to US -Senate investigators, is that the bank’s business interests were trumping its compliance obligations.

美国参议院调查人员称，问题是该银行把商业利益看得比合规义务重要。

The British lender faces the threat of fines that analysts estimate could reach $1bn or more after multiyear probes by the US justice department, Treasury department, and the -Manhattan district attorney into allegations that it may have inadvertently been used by money launderers and terrorist financiers.

分析人士估计，汇丰可能面临着10亿美元或更高的罚金。美国司法部、财政部和曼哈顿地区检查官就汇丰可能因为疏忽大意而被洗钱者和恐怖主义融资家利用的问题展开了多年的调查。

Mexico, home to cocaine cartels and rampant money laundering, was -proving a compliance nightmare for HSBC in 2007.

墨西哥是贩毒组织大本营，洗钱活动猖獗。事实证明，2007年，这个国家给汇丰带来了一场“合规噩梦。

US regulators were keeping an eye on the bank, which a few years earlier had been cited for deficient anti-money laundering (AML) policies.

美国监管者当时一直在紧盯着这家银行，因为几年前该银行就曾因反洗钱政策不够完善而被批评。

In his email, made public in a report by the Senate permanent subcommittee on Monday, Mr Root accused Mr Garcia Gibson of “rubber-stamping unacceptable risks.

在他的电子邮件中，卢特批评加西亚·吉布森“不假思索的批准了不可接受的风险。参议院常设调查小组委员会的一份报告让这份电子邮件在世人面前公开。

He and his colleagues should take a “firmer stand; the bank risked being fined for its lax compliance.

他和他的同事应采取“更强硬的态度；该银行可能会因为合规行为松懈而被罚款。

“Please note that you can dress up the $10m to be paid?.?.?.?to the US authorities as an ‘economic penalty’ if you wish but a fine is a fine is a fine, and a hefty one at that, Mr Root wrote.

卢特写道：“请注意，如果你愿意，你可以把支付给美国当局的1000万美元美化为‘经济惩罚’，但罚金就是罚金，而且数额巨大。

“What is this, the School of Low Expectations Banking? (‘We didn’t go to jail! We merely signed a settlement with the Feds for $10m!’)

“这是什么？低期望值银行业务的学校？（我们没有进监狱！我们只是拿出1000万美元与联邦调查员达成了和解！）

“We have seen this movie before, and it ends badly, Mr Root warned.

卢特警告称：“我们以前看到过这种情节，结局都很惨。

The warnings may have been eventually heeded, but not soon enough. Senate investigators claim HSBC ignored warnings of possibly improper activities from internal compliance officers, law enforcement officials and regulators; flouted rules designed to enforce existing US sanctions; and waived anti-money laundering requirements for wealthy clients.

人们可能终于注意到了这些警告，但不够早。参议院调查人员声称，汇丰没有理会内部合规官、执法官员和监管者发出的可能存在不正当行为的警告；藐视旨在落实美国现行制裁政策的规定；免除对富有客户的反洗钱要求。

The findings and allegations in the Senate report are said by people familiar with the matter to mirror those discovered by US authorities.

据知情人士称，参议院这份报告的这些发现和指控与美国当局的发现相似。

HSBC has not publicly denied the allegations.

汇丰银行没有公开否认这些指控。

The Senate panel spent years -probing HSBC as part of its examination of the US financial system’s vulnerability to the laundering of narcotics proceeds and terrorist financing.

参议院调查小组委员会花费多年时间对汇丰进行调查，这是针对美国金融体系的更广泛调查的一部分，其目的是查出整个体系中存在的、便以贩毒组织洗钱和恐怖分子进行融资的漏洞和缺陷。

The bank has not been formally accused of a crime in connection with the most recent investigations.

汇丰一直没有被正式指控存在与最近调查相关的罪行。

But many of the allegations in the Senate report closely resemble those that led other banks to reach settlements worth hundreds of millions of dollars with US authorities.

但参议院报告中的很多指控，与导致其他银行与美国官方达成数亿美元和解的那些指控极其相似。

For example, this year ING, the Dutch banking group, agreed to pay a penalty of $619m in a deferred prosecution agreement to settle accusations that it had violated US sanctions by helping -Iranian and Cuban companies move billions of dollars through the US financial system.

例如，今年，荷兰银行集团荷兰国际集团(ING)同意按照一项暂缓起诉协议，支付6.19亿美元罚金，以了结有关其帮助伊朗和古巴企业通过美国金融体系转移数十亿美元资金、违反美国制裁措施的指控。

This week, senate investigators claimed HSBC stripped details from transactions that would have identified Iranian entities – which may have put the bank in breach of US -sanctions against Iran – a similar accusation to that levelled against ING.

美国参议院调查人员声称，汇丰剔除了交易中一些本可识别出伊朗实体的细节。该银行可能因此违反了美国针对伊朗的制裁政策，从而面临与荷兰国际集团类似的指控。

HSBC allegedly coached one Iranian bank on how to avoid setting off alarms at HSBC when routing transactions through the British lender.

据指控，汇丰曾指导一家伊朗银行，在经由汇丰进行交易时如何避免在该英国银行引起警觉。

Again, in 2010, the US bank Wachovia entered into a deferred criminal prosecution agreement with the justice department for allegedly allowing cocaine cartels to launder proceeds through the bank.

2010年，美国银行美联银行(Wachovia)与司法部门签订了一项暂缓刑事起诉协议，根据指控，该银行曾允许贩毒组织通过该银行清洗毒品利润。

In court filings, Wachovia, now absorbed by Wells Fargo “accepted and acknowledged responsibility for money-laundering violations.

如今被富国银行(Wells Fargo)收购的美联银行在法庭文件中，对一些洗钱的违规行为“接受并承认责任。

This week, senate investigators claimed, HSBC moved billions of dollars in cash from its affiliate in Mexico to the US, more than any other Mexican bank, despite concerns raised by the authorities that such sums could only involve proceeds from illegal narcotics, Senate investigators allege.

参议院调查人员声称，汇丰曾将数十亿美元资金从其墨西哥分行转移到美国，数额超过任何其他墨西哥银行，尽管当局表示担心如此巨大的金额很可能来自非法毒品的收益。

In 2010, Leopoldo Barroso, head of anti-money laundering at HSBC’s Mexico unit, told the chief compliance officer there were allegations that as much as 70 per cent of laundered proceeds in Mexico went through the bank, according to the executive’s notes. He told his London counterpart “it was only a matter of time before the bank faced criminal sanctions.

根据高管笔记，2010年，汇丰墨西哥分行反洗钱部门主管雷奥波尔多·巴罗索(Leopoldo Barroso)告诉该银行首席合规官，有传言说墨西哥70%的洗钱活动通过汇丰进行。他告诉在伦敦的合规主管，“面临刑事制裁只是早晚的事。

A top official at HSBC’s regulator in the US, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, noted to a colleague in a July 2010 email that the HSBC probe “has the makings of potentially being a major criminal case.

美国监管机构——美国货币监理署(Office of the Comptroller of the Currency)的一名高官在2010年7月的一封电邮中向一位同事提到，针对汇丰的调查“很有可能变成一宗重大刑事案件。

The bank has apologised and pledged to clean up its act. Stuart Levey, a former top antiterrorism -official at the US Treasury and now HSBC’s chief legal officer, appeared to endorse a US legislative proposal that would force lenders to obtain more ownership details of bank accounts.

汇丰已经表示道歉，并承诺整改。美国财政部前反恐高官、汇丰现任首席法务官斯图亚特·利维(Stuart Levey)似乎支持美国的一项立法提案，该提案将要求银行获得有关银行账户所有人的更多细节。

The lender also has instituted a compliance regime that forces compliance officers around the world to report to the chief officer in London.

汇丰还制定了一套合规制度，迫使全球各地的合规官向伦敦首席执行官汇报。

HSBC’s head of compliance, David Bagley, told lawmakers on Tuesday that he did not manage or control the compliance departments at HSBC affiliates throughout the world. His job was to set policy and to escalate issues that were reported to him.

汇丰合规主管大卫·贝格利(David Bagley)告诉国会议员，他没有管理或控制汇丰全球各个分行的合规部门。他的工作是制定政策以及将报告给他的问题升级扩大。

The bank has sacked executives and hired compliance officers. Mr Bagley told lawmakers he would resign and take another position at HSBC. Sandy Flockhart, who led HSBC’s Mexican unit from acquisition until 2006, is to retire at the end of the month.

汇丰解雇了一些高管，并聘用了合规官。贝格利告诉国会议员，他将卸任，在汇丰另任他职。从汇丰在墨西哥进行收购后到2006年一直领导汇丰墨西哥分行的霍嘉治(Sandy Flockhart)将在本月底退任。

That may not be enough. Lawmakers chided HSBC for making similar promises and taking similar actions in the past, only to be found again to have possibly broken US rules.

这可能还不够。议员们批评汇丰过去就许过类似的承诺，采取过类似的行为，结果又被发现可能违反了美国规定。

Twice in the past 10 years HSBC has been cited by US bank regulators for deficient anti-money laundering policies and ordered to take corrective action.

过去10年，汇丰曾两次因反洗钱政策不力受到美国银行监管机构点名，并被命令采取纠正措施。

In 2010, HSBC was criticised by the Senate investigators for giving an Angolan bank “ready access to the US financial system despite the African bank’s allegedly poor anti-money laundering controls.

2010年，参议院调查人员曾批评汇丰为一家安哥拉银行提供进入美国金融体系的“便利渠道，尽管据人们所知这家非洲银行反洗钱措施不力。

Carl Levin, head of the Senate investigative panel, said authorities should consider revoking HSBC’s US banking licence if it failed to clean up its act. Past penalties were too light and the bank apparently did not get the message, Mr Levin said.

参议院调查委员会主席卡尔·利文(Carl Levin)表示，如果汇丰未能整改，当局应考虑吊销汇丰在美国的银行牌照。他指出，过去的惩罚过轻，该银行显然没有从中汲取教训。

Losing access to the US financial system would probably be devastating for HSBC.

对于汇丰而言，失去进入美国金融体系的资格可能是毁灭性的。

“The recent commitments are welcome, Mr Levin said. “Apologies and commitments to improve are also welcome. But accountability for past conduct is essential. And that’s what’s been missing here.

“最近的承诺是可喜的，利文表示，“道歉和改善的承诺也是可喜的。但为过去的行为承担责任是必须的。这是现在还没有做到的事情。