HSBC has agreed to pay nearly 300 million euros to end a Belgian criminal investigation into allegations of massive fraud and money-laundering involving wealthy diamond traders, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
The allegations, which related to a Swiss subsidiary of the British banking giant and ran into hundreds of millions of euros, mainly involved assets owned by wealthy clients in Antwerp, the world's main diamond-trading hub.
Prosecutors said the subsidiary, HSBC Private Bank SA (Suisse), had helped hundreds of rich clients cheat the Belgian taxman including by giving them access to offshore accounts in overseas tax havens.
The allegations "date back a number of years and involve soliciting and managing the assets of wealthy clients, mainly from the Antwerp diamond industry," prosecutors said in a statement.
"The Swiss bank is also suspected of knowingly favouring and encouraging tax fraud, giving favoured clients access to offshore accounts, particularly in Panama and the Virgin Islands."