On life, taxes and Osborne’s chance to beat a £20bn target March 18, 2015 If taxes are one of life’s few certainties, then taxes on banks are becoming just as predictable. Just when HSBC thought its lot could not get any tougher, up pops George Osborne with his bi-annual hike to the rate of the charge on lenders’ balance sheets. The chancellor’s final pre-General Election Budget included a commitment [...]
HSBC switches auditors to PwC after decade with rivals KPMG March 18, 2015 HSBC yesterday announced plans to appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers as its auditor, replacing KPMG which had held the position since 1991. Europe’s biggest bank said the appointment would be put to shareholders at its 2015 annual general meeting on 24 April, but that the recommendation was the result of a competitive tender. “The tender process was both [...]
Ex-HSBC boss Lord Green breaks silence on Swiss tax scandal: Here’s what he said March 18, 2015 Lord Green, the former boss of scandal hit bank HSBC, has broken his silence over the Swiss tax row which engulfed the bank and saw senior executives face MPs. Green, also a former government minister, was chief executive and chairman of HSBC while its Swiss private banking arm helped wealthy clients evade tax. Now, more [...]
HSBC confirms PwC will take over as auditor from KPMG this month March 18, 2015 HSBC will replace auditor KPMG with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) after the latter announced its resignation from the position as the Company's auditor from 31 March 2015, the bank confirmed today. PwC's appointment will be put to shareholder's at the bank's annual general meeting held on 24 April this year. HSBC originally announced its intentions to switch [...]
HSBC to close Jersey accounts in crackdown on tax avoidance March 17, 2015 HSBC has begun contacting thousands of holders of Jersey accounts who live in the UK in a bid to avoid accusations that it is helping to shelter money from tax authorities. Britain’s biggest bank has written to customers with such accounts to ask them to take proof of identity to a branch on the island, [...]
Bankers to face new fitness test under FCA rules March 16, 2015 Financial services firms will be forced to vet thousands of staff each year and make sure they are “fit and proper” to perform their roles under a new framework being finalised by City regulators. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) will today publish the final proposals for a new regime [...]
HSBC: French prosecutor requests criminal trial over tax dodging allegations March 13, 2015 A French prosecutor has requested HSBC’s Swiss private bank be sent to a criminal trial to face charges over a suspected tax avoidance scheme. HSBC had been the subject of an investigation from French magistrates into alleged tax fraud involving 3,000 French taxpayers which ended last month. The under-fire bank now has [...]
Labour MP John Mann says Tories blocking questioning of ex-HSBC boss Lord Stephen Green March 9, 2015 A leading Labour MP yesterday accused the Tories of blocking moves to summon former HSBC boss Stephen – now Lord – Green to the Treasury select committee to account for the controversy surrounding its Swiss operations. Lord Green, who left HSBC to join the House of Lords as a Conservative peer and trade minister in [...]
Stuart Gulliver: I am the right person to run HSBC March 9, 2015 HSBC boss Stuart Gulliver said he was the "right person" to run the embattled bank today, as he was quizzed by MPs on the Public Accounts Committee. Asked whether he should remain chief executive of the bank, he said: "I am committed to finishing what I began five years ago in a firm I've served [...]
Argentina turns up the heat on HSBC with demand for £2.3bn of offshore cash March 9, 2015 Argentina is demanding that HSBC repatriate £2.3bn of its clients' money. The bank stands accused of moving the money offshore for tax advantages. The head of Argentina's tax authority, Ricardo Echegaray, claimed HSBC's actions threatened the stability of the Latin American state. Speaking at the Argentine embassy, Echegaray told a host of journalists "HSBC built [...]