The Central Bank of Argentina (CBA) has ordered HSBC to remove its most senior local executives over alleged failures to thwart terrorist financing, money laundering, and tax evasion.

The Argentinian authorities have already ordered the bank to return a mammoth $3.5bn from several offshore bank accounts.

Official allegations

Argentina has accused HSBC of assisting over 4,000 clients to evade taxes by funnelling their illicit cash to secret bank accounts in Switzerland.

The bank has consistently denied the allegations, insisting that it acts within Argentinian law.

Insufficient measures

But the CBA has now ordered HSBC’s regional president, Gabriel Martino, and vice president, Miguel Angel Estevez, to be dismissed.

The central bank argues that neither executive took sufficient measures to thwart money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities.

HSBC has so far not responded to the calls for its executives to be dismissed.