It has been reported in The TIMES (UK) today (4 Nov 201) that HSBC is hiring 100 compliance officers a week.

It was reported that

1. Stuart Gulliver, the chief executive, revealed that he had hired 1,400 extra people in risk and compliance in the third quarter alone as the bank grapples with conduct issues and seeks to meet the greater demands of regulators in the 74 jurisdictions in which it operates.

2. In September 2013, it had 2,000 people working in compliance, the function that checks staff are following the rules. Today it has 6,600.

3. Mr Gulliver said that he would no longer meet his targets for cost control because of the compliance burden and because general staff costs in banking in Latin America and Asia were rising by between 5 per cent and 6 per cent. “It’s frankly the cost of running a global bank now and for the foreseeable future,” Mr Gulliver said.

This news follows

1. HSBC was hit with a $1.9 billion fine in the United States in December 2012 for money laundering and sanctions-busting offences, a penalty that led to a complete rethink of its compliance systems. Mr Gulliver insisted the investigation into forex-rigging would not trigger the deferred prosecution agreement signed with US authorities at that time.

2. The revelation that it was embroiled in a criminal tax investigation in France. In France, the HSBC bank is facing “possible commencement of a criminal investigation” for allegedly trying to help clients to evade French taxes. Executives of its HSBC Private Bank business have been summoned to appear before French magistrates, “Although the outcome of the hearing, and any investigation, is uncertain, it is possible that any penalties imposed could be significant,” HSBC said. France is cracking down on private banks that it believes have helped wealthy clients to evade tax, with UBS forced to pay €1.1 billion into escrow and magistrates proposing a fine of €4.88 billion.

1. Earmarking $378 million to pay fines for allegedly rigging foreign exchange markets.

2. Earmarking $589 million to pay compensation to British customers who were mis-sold payment protection insurance

3. Earmarking $550 million to settle a US case that it mis-sold mortgage-backed securities to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the federal mortgage bodies. The forex provision is only in connection with a settlement with the UK Financial Conduct Authority, which is expected shortly.

HSBC is also being investigated in other jurisdictions over the scandal, which has caught up many of the world’s biggest banks. Last week Barclays set aside £500 million for forex fines and RBS £400 million.