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HSBC probing loss of client data in Jersey
HSBC has launched an internal inquiry into an alleged loss of client data in Jersey following damaging revelations that the bank is at the centre of an HMRC investigation into offshore accounts.
The Daily Telegraph disclosed that Britain's biggest bank is at the centre of a HMRC investigation after it opened offshore accounts on the island for serious criminals living in this country.
"We are investigating the reports of an alleged loss of certain client data in Jersey as a matter of urgency," said HSBC in a statement on Friday.
"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.
"HSBC remains fully committed to adoption of the highest global standards including the procedures for the acceptance of clients."
The Telegraph reported on Friday that the tax authorities have obtained details of every British client of HSBC in Jersey after a whistleblower secretly provided a detailed list of names, addresses and account balances earlier this week.
The Telegraph understands that among those identified on the list are Daniel Bayes, a drug dealer who is now in Venezuela; Michael Lee, who was convicted of possessing more than 300 weapons at his house in Devon; three bankers facing major fraud allegations; and a man once dubbed London’s “number two computer crook”.
A series of other accounts containing six-figure deposits are also registered to modest addresses in relatively poor parts of the country.
The bank is legally obliged to report to the authorities any suspicions about the source of money deposited in its accounts.
HM Revenue and Customs is now understood to be trawling through a list of the names and addresses of more than 4,000 people based in Britain who had bank accounts at HSBC in Jersey.
This work is expected to lead to the identification of hundreds of people who are evading tax as the accounts have not been previously disclosed.
On Thursday night, a spokesman for HMRC said: “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.
“Clamping down on those who try to cheat the system through evading taxes and over claiming benefits is a top priority for us and we value the information we receive from the public and business community.”
The information obtained by HMRC is thought to be the biggest data leak identifying holders of offshore accounts ever obtained by the British tax authorities.