汇丰将在美国交纳巨额罚款

HSBC Holdings PLC on Tuesday plans to acknowledge that for years it ignored possible money laundering, part of a record $1.9 billion settlement with U.S. authorities that caps the bank's disastrous foray into the U.S. market.

根据与美国有关部门达成的和解协议，汇丰控股(HSBC Holdings PLC)周二打算承认自己多年来忽视了可能存在的洗钱行为。和解金额达到创纪录的19亿美元，这份协议为汇丰进军美国市场遭遇的惨败划上了一个句号。

The U.K.-based banking company is expected to forfeit nearly $1.3 billion as part of a deferred prosecution agreement, the largest-ever U.S. forfeiture for a bank, according to people briefed on the agreement between HSBC and multiple U.S. agencies. The deal includes a civil fine of more than $650 million, according to these people.

知情人士说，根据汇丰与多家美国政府机构之间的一份暂缓起诉协议，这家总部位于英国的银行将交纳接近13亿美元的罚款，这是有史以来一家银行在美国交纳的最高罚款。知情人士说，这笔交易还包括一笔超过6.5亿美元的民事罚款。

As part of the agreement, the bank will admit to violating the Bank Secrecy Act, the Trading with the Enemy Act and other U.S. laws intended to prohibit money laundering, a government official said.

一位政府官员说，根据协议，汇丰将承认它违反了《银行保密法》(Bank Secrecy Act)、《对敌贸易法》(Trading with the Enemy Act)和其他一些旨在防止洗钱的美国法律。

'We are cooperating with authorities in ongoing investigations,' said an HSBC spokesman. 'The nature of any conversations is confidential.'

汇丰一位发言人说，我们在配合有关部门正进行的调查；如果其中有谈话，这些谈话都属于机密性质。

The bank, whose history dates to an era when the British empire was at its height, has spent the past two years selling off unprofitable businesses and centralizing its global structure stretched across 80 countries.

丰汇的历史可上溯至大英帝国的鼎盛时期。过去两年它一直在出售不赚钱的业务、收缩遍布80个国家的全球架构。

HSBC officials now blame that structure for much of their U.S. legal trouble, which began when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in 2007 looked at suspicious cash flows involving HSBC branches in Mexico and the U.S.

现在汇丰的高管认为，他们在美国遇到的法律问题在很大程度上缘于这种架构。汇丰的麻烦始于2007年美国移民与海关执法局(Immigration and Customs Enforcement)特工调查涉及汇丰在墨西哥和美国分支机构的可疑资金流动之时。

In the past year, the bank has hired several former U.S. government money-laundering experts to help improve its financial controls. It named Stuart Levey as its top legal officer. Mr. Levey formerly served as the Treasury Department's top official tracking terrorism and illicit financing. His portfolio includes managing legal officers in HSBC operations around the world.

在过去一年，汇丰聘请多位曾经任职于美国政府的反洗钱专家来帮助改善财务管控。它任命列维(Stuart Levey)为首席法务专员。列维曾是美国财政部负责跟踪恐怖主义及非法融资的最高官员。他在汇丰的职责包括对该公司在全球各地法务专员的管理。

Many of the HSBC money-laundering problems centered on bulk-cash, U.S. dollar transactions between HSBC's Mexico and U.S. units. The transactions were detailed in a U.S. Senate investigative report published this past summer.

汇丰很多洗钱问题都主要与该公司墨西哥和美国部门之间的大额美元现金交易有关。这些交易在美国参议院今年夏季公布的一份调查报告中有详细描述。

The report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations detailed a regulatory culture at HSBC that shocked even its own employees, according to testimony provided to the committee and at a hearing.

参议院常设调查委员会(Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations)的这份报告详细描述了汇丰的监管文化。根据一次听证会上提交给该委员会的证词，这种文化让汇丰自己的员工都感到震惊。

Senate investigators concluded HSBC did little to clean up operations that should have raised concerns. HSBC's Mexico bank had a branch in the Cayman Islands that had no offices or staff but held 50,000 client accounts and $2.1 billion in 2008, the report said.

参议院调查人员认定，汇丰基本上没有采取什么措施来清理本应引起注意的部门。报告说，汇丰墨西哥分行在开曼群岛的一家分支机构既没有办公室，也没有员工，但2008年却有5万个客户户头和21亿美元的资金。

'What is this, the School of Low Expectations Banking?' one HSBC Latin America compliance official wrote in a complaint about the practices at HSBC Mexico, according to the Senate report. The HSBC official said the Mexico bank's antimoney-laundering committee 'can't keep rubber-stamping unacceptable risks because someone on the business side writes a nice letter.…We have seen this movie before, and it ends badly.'

参议院报告显示，汇丰拉美合规部一位高管在一份有关汇丰墨西哥分行的检举书中写道，“这都是什么？低期望银行集大成吗？这位高管说，墨西哥分行的反洗钱委员会不能因为有人字写得漂亮就敷衍了事地批准不可接受的风险；我们之前看过这种电影，结局都很惨。