HSBC AML gaps carry too much risk to publish

If HSBC’s anti-money laundering deficiencies were made public they could be “exploited by those who would promote criminal activity, transfer the proceeds of crime, or evade US sanctions”. The warning comes in a 16-page motion by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), filed in a US court, to keep confidential a report on the bank’s remediation following penalties of $1.9bn in 2012 for AML and sanctions compliance breaches. The full report, by the monitor appointed under the bank’s deferred prosecution agreement, runs to over 1,000 pages.