Carl Levin

Good. Might this have implications for the current rating at some banks, including HBUS?

It is the change in culture and actions which are critical.

As I understand the history here, when this was not working properly by the deadline of 180 days, rather than seeking an extension of the 180 days, the implementation plan was modified and then ended up in noncompliance with the consent…

I want to go back just for a moment to that situation with the Syrian terrorist.

All right. Will you let the Subcommittee know when it is completed?

Should the U.S. Government get the beneficial ownership information for U.S. corporations?

There is. Assume there is.

Well, I think you have answered the question, without going into details.

It is incredible to me that an affiliate of HSBC, an affiliate which is located in the United Kingdom, could even consider owning an account for a Taliban-affiliated organization and continue the relationship after the September 11, 2001…

I do not agree that just on these numerous breaches the bank should be classified.

We rely on financial institutions to ensure that those for whom we have applied sanctions are not able to access the U.S. financial system.

Even though there have been changes in the laws... it is still going on

Now, what is the relationship between the strength of a drug cartel and the ability of that drug cartel to launder money?

The more a terrorist can get their money through our system, the stronger a terrorist group will be?

So the short answer is they cannot do it directly, so they have to go through this process of sending it to a Mexican bank, if they can, and then having it returned cleansed.

Well, but my point is that looking back now at what you knew then, it should not have been lifted.

I think you prepared in your new approach to look at affiliates' internal audit findings to look for those with weak AML controls.

This is a terrific place to do business. There are more than 10,000 U.S. headquarters of international companies based here in the United States.

Accountability for previous failures and conduct that has already taken place is essential as a deterrent

Under your new rules now, you are going to be notifying each of the affiliates of this kind of action?

But to put it simply, they cannot just directly deposit these drug sales money into U.S. banks because we have a Know Your Customer requirement.

I want to thank Senator Coburn for all of his support and for the work of his staff.

As Chairman Levin laid out in his statement, the Subcommittee's investigation into anti-money laundering and anti-terror finance efforts at HSBC has covered quite a bit of ground.

There is that nagging question of accountability which others are going to have to judge.

I want to just read one thing to you before you answer, and that is what the World Bank has had to say about these bearer share accounts in its report last year.