April 5, 2016
Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers leak, was allegedly asked by HSBC Private Bank and Coutts to create more than 2,000 offshore companies for their clients.
Switzerland and Monaco-based subsidiaries of FTSE 100-listed HSBC were listed as the fourth and fifth biggest banking clients of the Panamanian law firm and reportedly requested 1,511 offshore companies to be set-up. As a whole, HSBC and its affiliates reportedly created more than 2,300 off-the-shelf firms, it is claimed.
“Our policy is clear that offshore accounts can only remain open either where clients have been thoroughly vetted, where authorities ask us to maintain an account for the purposes of monitoring activity, or where an account has been frozen based on sanctions obligations,” a spokesman for the bank said.
Meanwhile, a Jersey-based subsidiary of Coutts, the Queen’s bank which is owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, had set up 487 offshore companies. However, setting up offshore is not unlawful and the bank said it was “committed to the highest standards of regulatory compliance”.
“The provision of trust and administration services is an entirely legitimate and key aspect of wealth management and succession planning,” said a bank spokeswoman.
Mossack Fonseca director Ramon Fonseca has denied any wrongdoing. He said the firm had suffered a hack on its database and described the leak as “an international campaign against privacy”, according to Reuters.