LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - HSBC Holdings Plc saidit had sometimes failed to live up to the standards expected bysociety in the past, but it had overhauled its Swiss privatebank and some people alleged by media reports to have been itsclients were not.
HSBC's Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver said in a memo tostaff seen by Reuters he had also been called to give evidenceto lawmakers over the allegations. HSBC this week admittedfailings in compliance and controls in its Swiss private bank,prompting Britain's Treasury Committee to call HSBC ChairmanDouglas Flint to give evidence about the issue on Feb. 25.
"I share your frustration that the media focus on historicalevents makes it harder for people to see the efforts we havemade to put things right," Gulliver said in the memo.
"But we must acknowledge we sometimes failed to live up tothe standards the societies we serve rightly expected from us,"he said.
(Reporting by Steve Slater; Editing by Alexander Smith)