U.S. Fed terminates enforcement action against HSBC By Reuters

(Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Reserve on Thursday announced the termination of a decade-long enforcement action against HSBC Holdings Plc (LON:) for violation of anti-money laundering rules and sanction laws.

The enforcement order ended on Aug. 26, the Fed said in a statement.

HSBC did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

In 2012, the London-headquartered bank was accused of having degenerated into a “preferred financial institution” for Mexican and Colombian drug cartels, money launderers and other wrongdoers through what the U.S. Department of Justice called “stunning failures of oversight.”

HSBC later acknowledged it failed to maintain an effective program against money laundering and failed to conduct basic due diligence on some of its account holders and agreed to pay a record $1.92 billion in fines to U.S. authorities.

The bank entered into a five year deal in 2012 under which it pledged to strengthen its sanctions and anti-money laundering controls.

Later in 2017 HSBC said it has successfully kept the deal conditions and that the DoJ will therefore file a motion to dismiss the charges that had been deferred by the agreement.