The bank has been under pressure from its largest shareholder, Ping An, which wants the bank to be broken up.
HSBC said only that it is “pleased to have resolved this historic matter” and it continues “to remain focused on serving our customers.”
The regulator was not so sanguine, noting that the bank’s failings were “so significant” that it had “materially undermined the firm’s readiness for resolution”.
HSBC had also “failed to be duly open and co-operative” with the watchdog in not alerting it for about 15 months about problems it had identified in the incorrect marking of accounts as “eligible” for FSCS protection.
The shares were today steady at 618p, which values the bank at £119 billion. HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn was paid £5.6 million last year. He has shares in HSBC worth towards £30 million.
Critics of the bank, including Ping An, think HSBC is too large to be managed efficiently.
HSBC’s fine was reduced from an initial £96.5 million for co-operation with the investigation, early admission of rule breaches and agreeing to resolve the matter, according to the PRA.
The PRA said HSBC Bank’s depositor protection failings were “so significant, the PRA determined that it had materially undermined the firm’s readiness for resolution”.
The regulator said it did not think HSBC’s breaches were “deliberate or reckless”.
Yet the bank had failed to produce proper reports signed by the directors that showed compliance with the compensation scheme.
Credit Suisse’s fine last year was for significant failures in risk management and governance” linked to collapsed hedge fund Archegos Capital.
