A worldwide charity has accused a banking group of being Britain’s most secretive – saying it’s not transparent enough in jurisdictions such as the Isle of Man.
Christian Aid said HSBC had scored bottom on a comparison of the UK’s top four banks: HSBC, Barclays, RBS and Lloyds.
The charity looked at the publicly-available information all four banks release about their operations around the world.
It singled out HSBC for criticism, saying its current country-by-country reporting doesn’t go into enough details.
Joseph Stead, the organisation’s senior advisor on economic justice, says HSBC and Lloyds both lump Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man in with its UK figures – instead of separating them like RBS and Barclays.
He says that reduces the level of transparency and makes it much more difficult to interpret and use information in the reports.
In response, a statement from HSBC said it was committed to openness and transparency in tax reporting and its next report will contain more detail.
HSBC added its disclosures were in line with good practice from regulators.
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