Offshore operations of UBS and HSBC come to light – The Dia.com.do

Bloomberg .- UBS Group AG and HSBC Holdings Plc, two of the banks most affected by the crackdown by the United States in recent years against illegal funds now have customers- a leading role in a torrent of leaked documents detailing how they helped customers create thousands of offshore shell companies.

a report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ, for its acronym in English ) which analyzes extracted 11.5 million records Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca describes the contortions performed UBS and other banks as they struggled to take away from the offshore companies customers amid growing US research . careful

it also shows how European banks in particular helped customers create these entities: HSBC and its subsidiaries were responsible for more than 2,300 front companies registered through Mossack Fonseca, while UBS and Credit Suisse Group AG were behind 1,100 each, according to the report ICIJ.

While the use of offshore companies may be perfectly legal, documents led to a worldwide debate since it came to light the Sunday, revealing the extent to which politicians, business leaders and celebrities use a secret financial ecosystem.

the scandal is a new headache for the banks, some of whom paid billions of dollars fines in recent years, promised to tighten controls and dismantled businesses before lucrative as they try to bury allegations that he received money from tax evaders or criminals.

“banks and professional organizations including accountants and lawyers must improve their game making to know who their real customers, “said Alan Sheeley, team leader civil fraud and asset recovery law firm Pinsent Masons in London. This also increases the pressure on governments, he said.

In 2010, while UBS was facing a Justice Department investigation into US about illegal tax havens, the bank based in Zurich tried to leave the ghost companies, according to the report of the ICIJ.

In a meeting this year with Mossack Fonseca, bank representatives said that the legal study should be responsible for identifying the owners of the display companies, while the study insisted he did not know who some of them because the bank had not provided that information, the report said.

‘special treatment’

the parties finally found a way out: Mossack Fonseca would take over the administration of the shell companies set up by UBS clients and give them “special treatment,” said ICIJ <. / p>

under the new system, Mossack Fonseca agreed to accept a less thorough examination of UBS on those customers, asking for less documentation owners and why they used shell companies, the ICIJ reported.