The HSBC bank – acronym for The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation – throughout its history has been involved in constant controversies at the international and national level for its lax controls against the laundering of funds from illicit activities, for changing contractual clauses unilaterally and arbitrarily, and for applying “unrecognized” charges or double charges to its clients, among other anomalies.
In 2012, this controversial bank was in the “eye of the hurricane” when the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) and the Department of Justice of the United States of America revealed that at least 881 million dollars from the Sinaloa and Del Norte del Valle cartels in Colombia were “laundered” through HSBC Bank USA.
To prevent the closure of HSBC from causing an international financial gap, the American justice system and the bank of English origin reached an economic agreement: The financial institution was forced to pay a fine of 1.92 billion dollars, close all branches in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico, as well as fire its collaborators who did not take measures to prevent money “laundering.”
HSBC was founded in 1865 by Scottish banker Thomas Sutherland with the intention of financing trade in Europe, India and China. Over time, this bank created a new parent company, becoming HSBC Holdings plc in 1991, establishing its headquarters in London, England, after the complete acquisition of Midland Bank.
All subsidiaries, including Mexico, are completely controlled by HSBC Holdings plc, which in turn is held by various shareholders mostly from England and the United States of America.
The origin of HSBC in Mexico was Banco Internacional, which in 1992 became Bital due to a reprivatization process. Bital was subsequently purchased in 2002 by HSBC Holdings, marking the integration of its operations under HSBC’s universal banking model.
In 2024, HSBC was sued by the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo (UAEH) for engaging in irregularities and practices that affected the economic interests of the educational institution. The legal action arose from the bank’s failure to deliver 437 million pesos of interest generated by an investment of 3,000 million pesos from the Pension Fund for academic and administrative workers of the UAEH.
After almost a year of judicial process, the eighth civil judge of the Court of Justice of Mexico City issued a final ruling in favor of the UAEH, which forced the HSBC bank to settle the 437 million pesos, however, the financial institution did not comply with the judge’s order, so the university asked the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) to intervene and force HSBC to pay what was owed.
The HSBC bank has run out of legal “cichanas” and has no legal possibility to delay or not comply with the resolution of the Collegiate Court’s ruling, derived from judgment 262/2024, which requires the return of those funds to the UAEH, which will allow the educational institution to extend the financial life of the trusts and guarantee future security and stability for retired and unionized workers.
This historic legal victory for the UAEH should open a national debate on the need to promote regulatory changes that guarantee stricter regulation that prevents banks operating in Mexico from unilaterally and arbitrarily modifying agreed agreements, which put the assets of savers or any organization, whether public or private, at risk.
With the final ruling against HSBC, the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo demonstrated that it was always right in the legal defense of the 437 million pesos illegally retained for three years by the aforementioned bank, which is obliged, without delay, to return them to the university.
