Will get to the bottom of HSBC issue, says Home Secretary

BL :NEW DELHI, JULY 19: 2012

India will get to the bottom of alleged violation of safety compliance on money laundering and terrorist financing by HSBC staff in the country, a top Government official has said.

An investigation report of the US Senate Permanent Sub-committee has revealed that the banking major had failed to prevent money laundering by drug cartels and terrorist into US and other countries. It has been found that HSBC’s anti-money laundering compliance department, which included employees in India, was highly inadequately staffed.

“I think this is a very serious matter and we will get to the bottom of it. We need to get some more information from the Americans. We will get that very soon. This has been worrying us”, Mr R. K. Singh, Home Secretary, told newspersons here.

He was reacting to reports that HSBC India staff have come under scanner for deficiencies in their role as “offshore reviewers” of HSBC’s compliance to safety mechanism against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Mr Singh also said that any financial institution that does not follow the international guidelines set by financial action task force (FATF) makes the entire world vulnerable.

RBI’S DOMAIN

Meanwhile, Financial Services Secretary, Mr D. K. Mittal, told newspersons on the sidelines of an event that HSBC is a regulatory issue.

“It is for the RBI to comment. If they need any input from us, they will have to tell us. This subject is strictly in the domain of the RBI. They are very conscious of these issues and they are evaluating and they must be evaluating”.