HSBC Retreats, Abandoning Its U.S. Tax Cheat (And Probably Some Other) Private Banking Customers (7/19/11)

The Wall Street Journal reports that HSBC is sounding a retreat from the U.S. tax cheat enabler business. Dan Fitzpatrick, Evan Perez and Laura Saunders, HSBC Acts on Offshore Cash: As U.S. Cracks Down on Tax Evasion, U.K. Bank Drops American Residents Keeping Money Abroad (WSJ 7/20/11).  Here are some excerpts:

HSBC Holdings PLC is moving to mollify federal authorities investigating how the banking industry has helped U.S. clients evade taxes.

The global banking giant is cutting ties with wealthy American clients who bank offshore, as U.S. prosecutors turn up the heat on the bank to produce information about account holders who may be evading taxes, people familiar with the matter say.

A spokeswoman said the global banking giant will "no longer offer wealth-management services to U.S. resident private clients from locations outside the U.S.," and that American clients "will be better served by our private banking teams in the United States." At issue are hundreds of clients with accounts totaling as much as $100 million, said a person familiar with the situation. U.S. clients need roughly $5 million in assets to qualify for an HSBC private-client account, another person familiar with the situation said.

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