Major banks deny helping clients avoid tax offshore

HSBC, Credit Suisse and the Royal Bank of Scotland-owned bank Coutts Trustees have denied claims they are helping clients avoid tax by using complex offshore structures following the leak of the Panama papers.

The banks were named in a list of 500 lenders who investigative journalists said had helped to set up structures which can make it hard for tax officials to pinpoint the flow of money.
Responding to the claims, which were based on a major leak of documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, the banks defended their processes.
Our policy is clear that offshore accounts can only remain open either where clients have been thoroughly vetted (including due diligence, ‘Know Your Customer’, source of wealth, and tax transparency checks), where authorities ask us to maintain an account for the purposes of monitoring activity, or where an account has been frozen based on sanctions obligations.

– HSBC
We do not condone structures for tax avoidance. Whenever there is a structure with a third party beneficiary we insist to know the identity of that beneficiary. We as a company, as a bank only encourage the use of structures when there is a legitimate economic purpose.

– CREDIT SUISSE
We require all clients to be tax compliant as a condition of receiving our products and services and take a risk-based approach to identify and prevent tax evasion that relies upon extensive anti-money laundering systems and controls, including the requirement to understand the source of clients’ wealth. The provision of trust and administration services is an entirely legitimate and key aspect of wealth management and succession planning.

– COUTTS TRUSTEES