Soon after Stuart Gulliverbecame chief executive of HSBC at the start of 2011 he hung a “for sale” sign on the Swiss private bank it had owned since completing the acquisition of a rival more than a decade earlier.
Mr Gulliver abandoned the sale process after a lukewarm response from potential buyers. Yet given the furore this week over revelations of what had been going on at HSBC’s Swiss private bank at the time, it is easy to understand why he was eager to exit the business.
Leaked bank account documents for clients of HSBC’s Swiss private bank between 2005 and 2007 have found their way to the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other news groups.