HSBC Holdings Plc said that it is likely to face criminal charges from U.S. anti-money laundering probes and the cost of a settlement may “significantly” exceed the $1.5 billion the bank has set aside, Bloomberg News reported today. The lender made an additional $800 million provision in the third quarter to cover the costs of the investigation, adding to the $700 million it had already earmarked. HSBC also put aside $357 million in the period to compensate U.K. clients wrongly sold payment-protection insurance on loans as it posted an increase in pretax profit that missed analysts’ estimates.
