HSBC fined £57m over failure to protect deposits

HSBC suffered another serious blow to its reputation today when it was whacked with one of the heaviest fines ever handed out by the City regulator.

- BANKING

The giant bank- a global lender with its HQ in London - was fined £57.4 million for "serious failings" in its systems to protect customer deposits.

That is topped only by the £87 million punishment handed out to Credit Suisse last summer by the Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority, HSBC was also hit with a $1.9 billion fine by US authorities in 2012 for serving as a conduit for Mexican cocaine money laundering cartels, perhaps the most egregious punishment meted out to any bank, ever.

There was a serious danger then that it might lose its US banking licence, so lax were its controls felt to be.

It pledged then that it had changed its systems.

Today the PRA said HSBC had, between 2015 and 2022, failed to protect customer deposits.

Under the City compensation scheme, deposits are guaranteed up to £85,000, a measure brought in after the 2008 financial crisis to ensure public confidence in the banking system.