Swiss lawmakers satisfied with oversight of HSBC Swiss bank

ZURICH, May 26 (Reuters) - Swiss lawmakers are satisfied with the country's financial watchdog's oversight of HSBC Holdings PLC's Swiss arm, a parliamentary subcommittee said on Tuesday.

Britain's HSBC has admitted past failings in compliance and control at its Swiss bank following allegations it may have enabled clients to conceal millions of dollars of assets. It faces investigation by U.S. and French authorities, as well as an inquiry by British lawmakers.

A Swiss parliamentary subcommittee questioned representatives of financial regulator FINMA late in March, and found the regulator's responses to be satisfactory, the body said in a statement on Tuesday.

"For this reason, the committee has decided that no further action is needed in terms of parliamentary oversight, and thus no further investigation is called for," the body said.

A spokesman for FINMA declined to comment.

The questioning was an unusual show of parliamentary influence over FINMA, which later said it first investigated -- and then sanctioned -- the British bank's Swiss unit four years ago after finding violations of money laundering guidelines.

Switzerland's Social Democratic Party has also criticized the country's handling of the scandal surrounding HSBC's Geneva-based Swiss unit, accusing FINMA and the Swiss attorney general of doing too little to pursue criminals using offshore accounts.

HSBC, which has admitted past failings in compliance and control at its Swiss bank, has been defended by the regulator in Switzerland, which has argued that no Swiss bank had done as much to clean up.

(Reporting by Katharina Bart; editing by Susan Thomas)