LONDON — First there was money laundering. Then foreign-exchange rigging. Now tax evasion.
HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, has endured a string of scandals and paid billions in penalties to regulators around the world. But recent revelations that its Swiss private bank helped the wealthy evade taxes are raising new questions about big banks becoming too vast to manage — and who should be held accountable.
Lawmakers on the U.K. Parliament’s Treasury Committee peppered HSBC Chairman Douglas Flint and Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver on Wednesday with questions about personal accountability amid allegations that its Swiss private bank helped wealthy clients, including as many as 1,000 Britons, evade taxes.
Its size has raised question over large banks being too unwieldy.
“If they’re too big to fail, they’re too big to control,” said Crawford Spence, a Warwick Business School professor.
