How corrupt is your Bank? - Violation Tracker.

[IconFirm]

Have you ever wondered if your bank is legit? Do they follow a code of conduct or a code of criminality?

I stumbled upon a great site that provides info on criminal charges & fines imposed on all banks, businesses & corporate entities since 2000 in an effort to promote accountability & transparency - it's interesting to say the least.

For example, I was disturbed to hear that HSBC & Standard Chartered had publicly endorsed the Chinese Communist Party's violent crackdown of Hong Kongs democratic rights of it's people & had seen reports on various social media platforms about HSBC's involvement in money laundering for Mexican drug cartels, so decided to verify if it was true or not - that's when I came upon this site:

https://www.goodjobsfirst.org/violation-tracker

Sure enough, a lookup of HSBC showed that laundering drug money was just the tip of the iceberg & that since the year 2000 they had been convicted for multiple crimes with fines totalling over $6,488,012,407!!:

https://violationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org/prog.php?parent=hsbc



So, not only are HSBC supporting oppression of HongKongers & backing the Communist Party of China - but they have also been convicted of money laundering for drug cartels, fraud, mortgage abuses, banking violations, toxic securities abuses, government-contracting-related offenses, consumer-protection-related offenses, employment-related offenses, competition-related offenses & financial offenses. Quite a record. Bear in mind that this is just in the US - I'd love to find a similar site that scrapes info from the EU too.

So, have a go with your bank - see what they've been keeping quiet about - punch in your bank's name & see if they're all they claim to be. Post your results here if you like - but HSBC will take some beating I think!



For live streaming of the brutal, HSBC & Standard Chartered backed police crackdown of peaceful pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, filmed by HongKongers themselves - click on the link below:

https://ncehk2019.github.io/nce-live/

You can change the number of streams by clicking on the menu bar in the bottom centre of the screen to suit your screen size.


#StandWithHongKong

Edit: Missed a zero.
Edit2: Added HK Pro-Democracy protests livestream link.

[guigui371]

I can't find any of the New Zelander bank on it,
HSBC returns a list as long as an arm.
But nothing for Kiwi Bank, ANZ, BNZ.

Westpac that is Australian has a few hits.




Company   Parent   Parent Major Industry   Primary Offense Type   Year   Agency   Penalty Amountsort icon
Westpac International Inc          motor vehicle safety violation   2012   FMCSA   $24,500
Westpac Campus Communities, LLC          wage and hour violation   2015   WHD   $7,570

[jackg]

@guigui371 that looks quite a small number for a bank to have in its violations.

HSBC probably got a lot of profits burnt by ppi in the UK, much like Lloyd's did which I looked up before to have $100000000+ in fines (it could've been billion instead of million)

I also failed to find a few other banks around here like santander but I guess the list might not cover some companies. It's also likely some banks aren't on there because they don't have any charges - which would be the case for santander checking companies House... (if I'm looking at the right name).

[sheenshane]

IMO, I perfectly understand your aim of letting everyone in this forum about illegal activities in banking industries for it may also affect directly or indirectly every individual but for such reason exposing these schemes will not have a huge effect on the global adoption of Bitcoin. It may have a little effect but people who will lose trust in a specific bank like HSBC would only bring them to a different bank.

In fact, most of the Bitcoin holders already lose trust in the banking system that is exactly the reason they believe that the solution is to have a decentralized currency so it has no use of exposing this to us. Moreover, people may just push those banks to be liable in a court but big companies or businesses always have ways on how they can reverse the law and get out of these negative accusations.

Just my two sats!

[IconFirm]

I also failed to find a few other banks around here like santander...

The trick is to find either it's parent company or registered trading name, with Santander that would be Banco Santander:



Remember also that this site is for convictions in the US only, so not all company's will be listed.

#StandWithHongKong

[IconFirm]

Here's a cracker. Good old Bank Of America (BOA) have easily knocked HSBC off the top spot of corrupt banks with a massive amount of criminal convictions & fines:



Just look at those figures: 182 convictions including 52 counts of investor protection violation, 19 counts of mortgage abuses, 55 counts of employment-related offenses - the list goes on & on with a fines total of a staggering $82,630,515,262 What a spectacular criminal record for a bank to have, the mind boggles.

In terms of fines, BOA will take some beating - I'm thinking maybe edit the OP with a league type table to show the top 10 or so criminal/corrupt banks.....

#StandWithHongKong

[Lucius]

It amazes me over and over again that people generally have quite a lot of confidence in banks, and that they consider them honest institutions. But there is hardly a bank that has clean accounts, and does not do at least some business in the gray zone, and a good number of banks is literally in crime to the throat. If one wonders why banks do not shy away from engaging in criminal activity, then one only has to look at what the penalties are for such offenses. They are ridiculously small, and do not act preventively at all, but just the opposite.

As for Europe, there are as many banking scandals as you want - but the one that weighs as much as 200 billion EUR it is tied to a branch of Danske Bank in Estonia. Who would say that these two countries are corrupt to such an extent that such a financial scandal can take place in them. But Latvia is not far behind either, even though they are only talking about a modest $13 billion

If we take the Russian Laundromat as an example, more than US$13 billion of illicit funds were transferred to the Trasta Komercbanka in Latvia and, from there, around the world. From 2010 to 2014, 21 shell companies made almost 27 thousand payments via 732 foreign banks. Many of these banks were located in Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and the UK — all EU countries.

[abhiseshakana]

Banking is good but banks are evil. The ease of credit creates the illusion of profit and the courage to speculate which ultimately leads to a bubble economy. The bank is a money rake machine for all groups, the majority of which are used for the benefit of plutocrat groups. Ease of loans granted to those who have collateral and given low interest. As for people's business, a large interest is given.

Fractional reserve is a bank's formula for managing public money that creates an economic illusion and gives room for human greed to develop. The case of Hin Leong Trading Ltd should be one of the lessons that humans never feel satisfied and speculation should be eliminated. Hin Leong Trading borrows from many banks with guarantees that oil stocks have been put on tankers or in giant tanks that are easier to cash than property so that the Bank is happy to give credit. But in fact, the bank failed to dispel speculation about the inability of Hing Leong Trading to make installments. This is a form of bank mismanagement. When a bank goes bankrupt, the government will do a bailout. This is a form of injustice.

[mu_enrico]

Banks aren't evil; humans are can be evil. Even if future civilization can erase banks, the future "bank-like" organizations will be "evil" as long as the people inside it are "evil."

Anyway, look at this list:
https://www.sigtarp.gov/Pages/wd9er7g.aspx

If you are in the highest position of power, you will become corrupt or not?

[davinchi]

I guess HSBC is known for this but do you really expect anything else from a bank with their history? Do you know how it all started? It started when rich English people in India who abused and attacked Indians and stole their stuff made so much money that they needed a Bank that would store their wealth both on Asian front and in England at the same time and have a connection.

The name is literally Hong Kong Shangai bank because it was stationed there but it all started with India and moved to Hong Kong obviously and Shangai as well, they built that bank so that English people who were colonizing those places could store their golds. The very beginning of that company is abuse, abuse of human rights, abuse of laws, being against what is right. So, it is not really a shock to me that they would still do shady stuff.

[Lucius]

I guess HSBC is known for this but do you really expect anything else from a bank with their history? Do you know how it all started?

It is understandable to me that HSBC is identified most with criminal activities because they are one of the largest banks in the world, but as I showed in the previous post there are many worse examples in terms of financial fraud when it comes to banks. It is true that this bank was created with the primary objective of the opium trade, which was then a very desirable commodity (1865). After their last scandal that threatened to ban them from doing business in the USA it became clear how much the UK's top government was involved in the bank's operations as their prime minister went to lobby to save HSBC. Not to mention that instead of a work ban, the bank only received a fine.

In fact, the whole system is corrupt to the core, and banks only serve as one of the safeguards by which the government tries to keep the population in a kind of debt bondage, in a way that loans have become a way of life, and when you are in debt you agree to everything, even basic violations of your human rights.

Why was George Floyd killed? Because of an allegedly counterfeit $20 bill, which only shows how much life is actually worth today when it comes to ordinary people.

[Gozie51]

If you are in the highest position of power, you will become corrupt or not?

Uhmmm such a big question. Can we just take it that way that people who find their way up there do so so as to corruptly enrich themselves? Are there no social justice anymore. Are we totally living the Karl Max capitalist system ? The corruption seen is in high levels and the poor are cheated to the pocket of those up in the ladder.

[IconFirm]

Next up, Standard Chartered. Not because they are one of the biggest criminals amongst the banking sector fines wise, but because they are also endorsing the Communist Party of China's oppression of the Democratic rights of Hong Kong along with their criminal pals HSBC:



It's interesting to note that they also have a record of money laundering (2 convictions) as well as a history of economic sanction violation (7 convictions) - who'd have thought that a Communist backing bank didn't care about economic sanctions?.....LULZ

I totally agree with all the posts here about the banking industry being corrupt to the core. This is why Bitcoin came about of course, so that we are no longer reliant on these corrupt businesses - in that respect I suppose we should be thankful! LOL It is also why we should be wary of any bank that claims to support/incorporate Bitcoin (I'm looking at you, Revolut), Bitcoin doesn't need banks by design - banks are simply out to make money from it in any way possible.




#StandWithHongKong

[mu_enrico]

Uhmmm such a big question. Can we just take it that way that people who find their way up there do so so as to corruptly enrich themselves? Are there no social justice anymore. Are we totally living the Karl Max capitalist system ? The corruption seen is in high levels and the poor are cheated to the pocket of those up in the ladder.

I'm not sure if the current system is corrupt so that the people also become corrupt or the other way around. Why is it in every civilization this problem persist? It's likely that corrupt people will remain corrupt whether you pick capitalism, communism, or any -ism available in your imagination. I'm just afraid that you fight the corrupt old system in order to create another corrupt system. lul

Anyways, I still appreciate the goodjobsfirst.org site to hold these criminals accountable and OP for supporting Hong Kong. Go ahead preaching about banks are evil, meanwhile, I'll keep preaching about morality on the individual level

[Emitdama]

It's good, except that the website doesn't work for every country. But, I believe that no matter where we are living if we do some research on the bank we are using locally, we can able to see some reports and articles about them if they have really been into any bad stuffs or acts. Although this is not something that really comes to my mind, I don't bother about them.

Any bank that commits a crime will always have to pay for it. I have not had any issues with the bank I'm using, and I don't wish to have any issues with them. Everything is working just fine and I wish to have the same as long I might be needing banking services; anything different will lead to lots of inconveniences which end up in big head aches.

[abhiseshakana]

I'm not sure if the current system is corrupt so that the people also become corrupt or the other way around. Why is it in every civilization this problem persist? It's likely that corrupt people will remain corrupt whether you pick capitalism, communism, or any -ism available in your imagination. I'm just afraid that you fight the corrupt old system in order to create another corrupt system. lul

Anyways, I still appreciate the goodjobsfirst.org site to hold these criminals accountable and OP for supporting Hong Kong. Go ahead preaching about banks are evil, meanwhile, I'll keep preaching about morality on the individual level

Never satisfied (greedy) is human nature. Lack of character education and wrong concepts that have been embedded in the human subconscious that wealth is the first factor that can determine the happiness of one's life. Religious and character education is aimed at eroding and directing this bad trait for positive goals. Finally, in this world there are always conflicts between demons and angels.

The current system initially intended to facilitate interaction between people, turned into a tool for the benefit of a group of people rather than the interests of the whole community. A globalized system has interlocked with a more specific system, and any amount of epidemics we have entered into the system are in fact unable to go against the flow.

Bank institutions were originally created to make it easier for people not to carry physical gold. Then evolved into providing loans with interest in order to get additional benefits. Banks are only a weapon in the hands of economic agents. This weapon can be used to kill, protect yourself, or protect others.

But in my opinion, the existence of conventional banks now brings more harm than benefit. Because the Bank represents the exploitation of the interests of the oligarchs by legal means against others. In addition, banks are also supported by the government and are considered as the arteries of a country's economy.

[IconFirm]

To celebrate Lloyds Bank's latest fine of £64,000,000 for swindling over half a million of their mortgage customers over a 4 year period:  (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/11/lloyds-fined-64m-for-unfair-treatment-of-mortgage-customers) - I thought I'd upload their previous convictions of criminal activity for comparison:



Only the 5 convictions in America, but 2 counts each for interest rate manipulation & economic sanction violation, so no surprises that they've been ripping off customers in other areas I suppose.
Economic sanction violation seems to be a trend with banks I notice - they seem to think that the rules simply don't apply to them.

A guy was arrested lately for "supposedly" handling a fake $20 bill & ultimately paid for it with his life. By comparison, not a single person has been to prison for any of the multi-billion $/£ crimes committed by the banks I've posted about here so far - how does that work?

Edit:  The fines total of $545,500,000 above does not include their latest fine of £64,000,000, which I estimate to be about another $80,288,640.




#StandWithHongKong