HSBC agreed to pay €300 million to settle French allegations that its private banking group in Switzerland knowingly helped French clients evade taxes and subsequently violate money-laundering laws through accounts held by offshore legal entities in 2006 and 2007. The agreement finalized Monday represents the first of its kind for the French financial prosecutor's office, the Parquet National Financier, which made use of a broad anti-corruption statute that took effect last year. The law allows French authorities to pursue settlements with financial institutions in a manner similar to the deferred prosecution process in the United States. The settlement, which was...
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