36. Between 2004 and 2007, HSBC Mexico exported over $3 billion U.S. dollars per year to the United States through Banknotes. In November 2007, Banco de Mexico, the central bank of Mexico, expressed concerns about the volume of U.S. dollars exported by HSBC Mexico back to the United States. Specifically, Banco de Mexico wanted an explanation as to why HSBC Mexico’s U.S. dollar exports were significantly larger than its market share would suggest.
37. In February 2008, HSBC Mexico’s CEO met with the head of the CNBV and the head of Mexico’s financial intelligence unit, Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera (“UIF”). Again, the volume of HSBC Mexico’s U.S. dollar exports was raised as a concern. Specifically, HSBC Mexico’s CEO was told that law enforcement in Mexico and the United States were seriously concerned that the U.S. dollars being deposited at HSBC Mexico might represent drug trafficking proceeds. HSBC Mexico’s CEO was also told that Mexican law enforcement possessed a recording of a Mexican drug lord saying that HSBC Mexico was the place to launder money.
http://www.justice.gov/opa/documents/hsbc/dpa-attachment-a.p...
If your choice, as a banker, was to piss off a government hell-bent on making you a scapegoat and risk going in front of a jury of poor people who hate bankers, charged of violating a law it's impossible not to violate, and which carries a 20 year jail sentence, you would agree to a deal as well.
The US allegations were ridiculous anyway. They claimed HSBC "knew" there was money laundering taking place merely because money was moving from Mexico to America. I'm sure HSBC execs, having read newspapers and watched TV, were quite confident there was drug money in that stream. This is quite different to knowing precise account numbers of drug cartels with a high degree of certainty. I don't recall the latter being alleged, however.