October 20, 2017
Regulators are looking into whether HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered facilitated money-laundering as a result of possible ties to South Africa’s politically powerful Gupta family.
The Financial Conduct Authority probe comes after Peter Hain, a member of the unelected House of Lords, wrote a letter raising concerns about the banks’ possible exposure to the Guptas. In the letter, Hain said allegedly illicit funds may have passed through the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, where HSBC and Standard Chartered had large footprints.