By Joshua Kirby
French authorities said lender HSBC agreed to pay a fine of nearly 268 million euros ($312.9 million) in connection with an investigation into accusations of tax fraud relating to dividend payments.
The case will be shelved with the payment of the fine, Pascal Prache, a French financial prosecutor, said in a release Thursday.
HSBC in response said it was "pleased to have resolved this matter."
"The settlement with the [French court] recognizes the bank's co-operation with the investigation, as well as the corrective measures it took to address the historic issues," HSBC said. "We continue to remain focused on serving our customers."
The investigation related to accusations that HSBC's French arm between 2014 and 2019 engaged in trading transactions involving intra-group dividend arbitrage transactions to benefit from the exemption of taxes from such transactions, dealings the prosecutor's office said amounted to "aggravated tax fraud".
Write to Joshua Kirby at joshua.kirby@wsj.com; @joshualeokirby
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-08-26 0844ET
