HSBC to pay $2.9 billion to settle money-laundering probes

HSBC Holdings PLC, Europe’s largest bank, has agreed to pay $1.92 billion to settle U.S. investigations of money laundering in the largest such accord ever.

The settlement includes a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the London-based bank said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday.

HSBC also said it expects to complete an undertaking with the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority soon, without giving details.

In July, Senate committee said that lax oversight by top HSBC executives gave terrorists and drug cartels access to the U.S. financial system.

The settlement is the biggest reached in the United States over such allegations, topping the $619 million in penalties paid in June by the Netherlands’ ING Groep NV.

In court papers filed Tuesday, the Justice Department accused HSBC of violating the Bank Secrecy Act in connection with the laundering of money from narcotics drug traffickers in Mexico, as well as intentionally allowing prohibited transactions with Iran and other nations that have been under sanctions, including Libya, Sudan and Burma.

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

Information for this article was contributed by Bloomberg News and The Associated Press.

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