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BERNE, March 31 (Reuters) - Switzerland's bank regulatorsaid on Tuesday that while the scandal surrounding HSBC'sprivate Swiss bank was "unsavoury" the Geneva-based lender hadbeen working hard to clean itself up.
Britain's HSBC has admitted past failings incompliance and control at its Swiss bank following allegationsit may have enabled clients to conceal millions of dollars ofassets. It faces investigation by U.S. and French authorities,as well as an inquiry by British lawmakers.
"The matter is unsavoury and it paints a picture ofSwitzerland that we don't like to see: the Switzerland of 10 ormore years ago," Mark Branson, head of Swiss financial regulatorFINMA, told a news conference.
"No bank in Switzerland has done as much during this time asHSBC has. They have decided to exit certain countries and clientsegments, and their number of clients has shrunk by about 70percent," Branson said.
The scandal was sparked by data from whistleblower HerveFalciani, a former IT employee at HSBC. The allegations have putFINMA on the defensive against lawmakers inquiring aboutoversight of the bank.
The regulator has made some of its past enforcement actionsagainst the Geneva-based Swiss division of HSBC public recently.They included investigations for aiding money laundering and fordealings with politically prominent clients.
Branson said on Tuesday the watchdog had imposed athree-year blanket ban on HSBC acquiring so-called politicallyexposed persons, a term justice officials use to define those inpositions that could be abused to launder money. He did not saywhen the ban was imposed.
A spokesman for HSBC in Geneva was not immediately availablefor comment.
The comments by Branson, a British, former long-time UBS banker, echo comments made last month by a rivalbanker, who argued that HSBC was being unjustly tarnished. (Reporting by Katharina Bart; editing by David Clarke)
