HSBC Boss 'Sorry' For Swiss Tax Scandal

The boss of HSBC has apologised in person to MPs over the past behaviour of his bank and thousands of secret Swiss bank accounts it held for clients.

Stuart Gulliver told MPs on the Treasury Select Committee that revelations about thousands of secret accounts held in Switzerland has caused "damage to trust and confidence".

He said: "I am apologising as CEO. I am responsible for cleaning it up."

Committee chair Andrew Tyrie MP asked Mr Gulliver why he found it necessary to shield his income through a shelf company located in Panama, while he was actually domiciled in Hong Kong.

Mr Gulliver stressed it was not for "tax purposes", instead saying it was because he did not trust other members of staff at the bank.

"It was purely about privacy. Privacy from colleagues in Hong Kong and privacy from colleagues in Switzerland," Mr Gulliver, whose has worked for the bank for 35 years, said.

"That was because my pay was not a matter for public record."

He said the HSBC computer system at the time allowed staff to snoop on each other to find out how much they were paid.

Mr Gulliver admitted he was one of the best remunerated members of staff in Hong Kong.

He said: "The computer system showed everyone's pay and I was amongst the highest paid and I wished to preserve my privacy."

Protesters outside the House of Commons chanted anti-HSBC slogans, as public anger continues to rise over the secret accounts promoted by the bank's private arm in Geneva.

Swiss investigators raided the offices of the bank last week after reports said it turned a blind eye to handling funds for arms dealers and traders in conflict diamonds.

That announcement came just over a week after HSBC Switzerland found itself at the centre of a global scandal following the publication of secret documents.

The cache of files, made public in a French newspaper, claimed HSBC's Swiss private banking arm helped clients in more than 200 countries evade taxes on accounts containing £77bn ($119bn).

The files, which include the details of 30,000 accounts and the names of celebrities, were originally stolen by former HSBC IT worker Herve Falciani in 2007.

A number of regulators have launched investigations into the HSBC tax scandal .

In 2012 the bank agreed to pay fines and settlements of £1.2bn over an unconnected matter.

That followed a US investigation of Europe's largest bank which focused on the transfer of funds on behalf of nations such as Iran and the movement of $7bn (£4.5bn) in cash into the US financial system, suspected to have belonged to Mexican drug cartels.

At the time Mr Gulliver apologised for the actions of his bank , which dated back to 2007 and 2008.

He said: "We have said we are profoundly sorry for them, and we do so again.

"The HSBC of today is a fundamentally different organisation from the one that made those mistakes."