HSBC bank accused of tax avoidance

HSBC’s Swiss banking arm helped wealthy clients dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars in assets, according to leaked files

TIMELINE OF HSBC LEAK

2007: IT expert Herve Falciani, working for HSBC in Geneva, steals files containing details of more than 100,000 clients with Swiss bank accounts

2008: Falciani flees to France, turns data over to government. Tax authority begins investigation

2010: Under finance minister Christine Lagarde, France prepares confidential list of leaked names for other countries. So-called “Lagarde list” leads to arrests in Greece, Spain, U.S., Belgium and Argentina

2010: UK tax authority receives list and identifies over 1,000 tax evaders. More than $200m quietly recovered but only one person prosecuted

2012: HSBC pays record $2bn in fines and signs five-year deferred prosecution agreement after U.S. authorities receive leaked data

2013: French authorities conclude that 99.8 percent of their citizens included on list were probably evading tax

2014: Argentina alleges that HSBC helped more than 4,000 of its citizens to evade taxes

Feb 2015: International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) reveals leaked files from HSBC’s Swiss banking arm relate to accounts holding more than $100 billion from 106,000 clients in 203 countries

HSBC says it has cut its number of Swiss accounts by almost 70% since 2007

Top countries: Number of clients
Switzerland
France
UK
Brazil
Italy
Israel
11,235
9,187
8,844
8,667
7,499
6,554

Top countries: Amount of money
Switzerland
UK
Venezuela
U.S.
France
Israel
$31.2bn
$21.7bn
$14.8bn
$13.4bn
$12.5bn
$10bn

Sources: ICIJ, wire agencies
Pictures: Getty Images