British banking giant HSBC used to launder Mexican drug money

UK’s largest bank HSBC was used to launder Mexican drug money, according to a new report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, a Congressional watchdog responsible for investigating financial improprieties.

The investigation by the Senate reveals how weak controls at the bank left it vulnerable to being used to launder dirty money and suspicicious funds from Syria, Cayman Islands, Iran and Saudi Arabia are also understood to have been flushed through the bank, the BBC said.

The report also reveals the the US bank regulation authority, called the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, failed to properly monitor the European bank.

HSBC has said it expects to be held accountable and that the bank will shoulder the responsibility and fix what went wrong.

“We will apologise, acknowledge these mistakes, answer for our actions and give our absolute commitment to fixing what went wrong,” HSBC said in a statement.