UK taxman probes HSBC accounts after data leak

HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, has been hit by the leaking of client account data in the British tax haven of Jersey which is now being looked at by the country's tax authorities. The authorities confirmed they were looking into details of clients in Jersey after being handed a list of names, addresses and account balances.
"We can confirm we have received the data and we are studying it. We receive information from a very wide range of sources which we use to ensure the tax rules are being respected," HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) said in a statement. HSBC said it was investigating the alleged loss of client data, first reported in The Daily Telegraph, "as a matter of urgency."
"We have not been notified of any investigation in relation to this matter by HMRC or any other authority but, should we receive notification, we will cooperate fully with the authorities," the bank said on Friday. HSBC said it was "fully committed to adoption of the highest global standards including the procedures for the acceptance of clients."
This marks another potential blow for HSBC which has been criticised by US regulators for lax anti-money laundering controls in Mexico and elsewhere, and last year saw thousands of its Swiss clients probed by the British taxman. The bank's London-listed shares dipped 0.8 percent by 1150 GMT, firmer than a 1.6 percent drop by the European banking index.
After the financial crisis, the banking industry around the world is under intense scrutiny over its standards and past practices, which have included mis-selling of financial products and interest rate-rigging. And banks have become caught up in cash-strapped governments' efforts to crack down on tax evaders sheltering money in offshore accounts. "It feels to me like the banking sector is being seen as a money-stuffed piñata for everyone to have a whack at - be it regulators or governments or consumers," said one of HSBC's 10 biggest investors, who asked not to be named.
Chief executive Stuart Gulliver has not come under much pressure from investors since the damning US money-laundering report as he only took the helm at the start of 2011. But he acknowledged this week it would take the industry time to clean up the mess from past mistakes.