HSBC – 

Banking Around The World

Little did we know that the HSBC slogan, “Bank as easily around the world as you do at home” was to be taken literally. That terrorists, drug cartels, even ordinary crooks and other slimy types could take advantage of the HSBC operations in the United States to convert their holdings to spanking new American dollar bills for use anywhere that currency is accepted – like everywhere!

Al Rajhi Bank in Saudi Arabia, reportedly a favorite of various terrorists, has also been a favorite of HSBC. Al Rajhi is said to have been the bank of choice for some of the 9/11 hijackers. This bank also handles funds for the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) considered a funder of terrorist activities and a source of support for suicide bombers. HSBC was happy to stock up Al Rajhi with Indian rupees. Hmmmm? Rupees perhaps that financed terrorist attacks in Mumbai?

Investigators uncovered information indicating that HSBC green-lighted the movement of billions in shady dollars into the United States from Mexico, Saudi Arabia etc., etc., etc., without the kind of oversight the law and common sense dictates. 

It would appear that HSBC engages in every shady aspect of banking that one could imagine. Laundering money for terrorists, providing currency du jure no matter where the bad guys want to blow something up. Giving the drug cartels lots of US dollars to enjoy the fruits of their murderous ways. Even Russian organized crime lords found HSBC to be a great help in laundering their cash.

Of course HSBC is into rigging LIBOR rates big time, impacting our credit cards, mortgages and literally every form of bank related credit. Don’t forget their role in rigging municipal bond auctions adding to the cost of public infrastructure from schools, to highways, to sewers, not to mention the taxes that pay off those bonds.

This is far beyond ethics. Like the crooks they serve, they should be prosecuted. And not just the little guys who make the dirty deals and rig the rates, but the guys at the top, the people who created this culture. It’s not organized crime without a “Boss” –or a “Bankster” as the Economist famously labeled them– calling the shots. HSBC executives, the folks at the top –gangsters with a “B”– enabled this massive criminal enterprise. And we all know where organized crime leaders belong, in the slammer. We’ll see if law enforcement authorities around the world will bring them to justice.