Large Banks See Shares Drop Following Report Of $2tn Suspicious Activity Leak

HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Barclays and other large banks on Monday shares took a hit following the publication of leaked documents showing they serviced up to $2 trillion worth of potentially suspicious banking activity

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st September, 2020) HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Barclays and other large banks on Monday shares took a hit following the publication of leaked documents showing they serviced up to $2 trillion worth of potentially suspicious banking activity.

A damning report published a day prior by Buzzfeed cited a treasure trove of leaked documents from the US Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network bureau (FinCEN) where large multinational banks funneled astronomical amounts of money flagged as suspicious in nature. The leak was facilitated in coordination with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

As of 10:45 GMT on Monday, HSBC's shares fell by 6.1 percent, Deutsche Bank by 8.3 percent and Barlay's by 7.

9 percent across the board. Similar figures were posted by Standard Chartered Bank, JP Morgan and BNY Mellon.

According to The Guardian, this is the lowest HSBC shares have fallen since 1995.

The explosive report is based on a leak of some 2,000 documents of suspicious activity reports, known as SARs, from the large banks to FinCEN. The leaks suggest the banks provided financial services to suspicious individuals, including some on US sanctions lists.

Filing SARs does not automatically prohibit banks from halting the financial service in question, the report points out.

The leaks also implicated various operatives behind ponzi schemes, global money laundering networks linked to drug cartels and funding of terror groups.