HSBC Holdings PLC must pay a $1.1 billion bail after being charged in a French criminal probe into tax evasion at its private bank, three months after the same unit drew fresh scrutiny in the U.K.
HSBC on Wednesday was informed it was placed under formal criminal investigation regarding its private bank’s conduct in 2006 and 2007. The move came five months after HSBC’s Swiss unit was charged and ordered to post a $55 million bail.
The decision is “without legal basis, and the bail is unwarranted and excessive,” HSBC said in a statement from London on Thursday, adding it will appeal.
French President Francois Hollande has increased efforts to punish tax evasion since former Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac was forced to resign after his secret Swiss account was exposed. UBS Group AG, Switzerland’s largest bank, was forced to pay a $1.2 billion security deposit last year to cover potential penalties in a separate French tax-evasion probe after its appeals failed.
