HSBC.The record,unredacted.
Laundered cartel money. Tax-evasion settlements in three countries. Fines for mistreating struggling UK customers. Hundreds of branches shut. Every claim links to the regulator, court or newspaper that reported it.
Payments you stopped. Still leaving.
Complaints that go nowhere. Calls cut off. Subscriptions you cancelled years ago still taking money, after being told they were blocked. If this sounds familiar, you are not alone, and the rules are on your side.
Your card issuer must stop a recurring card payment when you ask, even if you haven’t contacted the business.
- 01Ask before the end of the business day before the payment is due.
- 02Anything taken after you cancel is unauthorised.
- 03HSBC must refund it, plus related charges, immediately.
743 doors, closed.
Every one had local staff with mortgages to pay and families to raise, and customers who relied on them. More than half of HSBC’s UK network has gone since 2015, while HSBC added 15,107 jobs in India. Every square is a branch. Watch them go dark.
The full timeline →28 cases. Nine jurisdictions.
2024
- EU cartel fine over euro interest-rate derivatives, upheld in 2024European Commission; EU General Court · European UnionFine upheld
- Swiss regulator finds HSBC private bank seriously breached money-laundering rulesSwiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority · SwitzerlandBreach found
- FCA fines HSBC for unfair treatment of 1.5 million customers in financial difficultyFinancial Conduct Authority · United KingdomFined
- Bank of England regulator fines HSBC £57.4m over depositor protection failuresPrudential Regulation Authority · United KingdomFined
2023
2020
- HSBC freezes accounts of exiled Hong Kong politician Ted Hui and his familyHong Kong Police · Hong KongFrozen
- FinCEN Files: HSBC moved money for an alleged Ponzi scheme after its record fineInvestigative journalism: ICIJ, BuzzFeed News and partners · InternationalExposed
- HSBC’s Asia chief signs petition backing Beijing’s Hong Kong security lawPublic statement by HSBC · Hong KongOn record
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
- HSBC pays CHF 40m to close Geneva money-laundering investigationGeneva Public Prosecutor’s Office · SwitzerlandSettled
- Swiss Leaks: HSBC’s Swiss bank and 100,000+ secret accountsInvestigative journalism: ICIJ, Le Monde and 140 journalists in 45 countries · Switzerland / United Kingdom / worldwideExposed
2012
- $1.9bn US settlement over drug-cartel money laundering and sanctions breachesUS Department of Justice · United StatesAdmitted
- US Senate investigation: “HSBC Case History”US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations · United StatesInvestigated
- Interest-rate hedging products mis-sold to small businessesFinancial Services Authority · United KingdomRedress
Your story belongs on the record.
Tell us what HSBC did. We read every account, publish anonymised stories with permission, and help people with the same problem find each other.