This line itself is no stranger to predatory practices. Since 2001, the company has been fined at least 47 times by U.S. authorities and paid a total of $10.7 billion in fines. Since 2010, the company has been fined at least six times by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and paid a total of more than £300 million in fines. The fine has become another operating cost and is passed on to consumers.
Credit Suisse is not an isolated case. The list of unreputable disreputable manifestations of Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Pandora Papers, HSBC (HSBC) leaks, Luxembourg leaks and other incidents shows that almost all large banks are involved in predatory behavior. All of these leaks sparked public discussion but received no response from the government.
Credit Suisse has been authorized by the FCA, and the latest disclosures should trigger an independent investigation into its UK business, especially given that the bank is a habitual offender. However, the possibility of this happening is very low. The British government is busy promoting deregulation and promoting entrepreneurial culture, and is unwilling to highlight the dark side of this.
This culture is the main factor in promoting predatory behavior. At City of London, scrambling ahead of competitors at almost any cost to gain financial advantage is seen as a skill, while promotion, status and profit are linked to achieving business goals. In such a system, any "transaction" is acceptable as long as it is profitable.
The problem is being caught, not engaging in disgrace or illegal activities. Intelligent business activities are about building a mechanism through which benefits can be gained from suspicious activities while evading any responsibility for their operations. Therefore, many people focus on building opaque structures and using financial experts to cover up wrongdoing. The British Treasury has never been keen on investigating the organizational culture of banks, and predatory behavior is still in an institutionalized state.
Credit Suisse leak once again shows that there is a maze of complex structures that are difficult to penetrate in this world. The government can respond by increasing transparency and accountability, closing off illegal businesses and prosecution of senior officials. However, this possibility is low, as the political system has little room for independence from large businesses. Political parties are funded by corporate funds and rarely attack those who fund them. They claim to be "business-friendly". Therefore, there is little attention paid to the cleanup of the banking industry, even if it is often involved in scandals.
The threat of bankruptcy and regulatory actions can restrain large banks and their executives, but this has been largely eliminated as the government has shown a willingness to invest a lot of money into the industry.
The financial crisis from 2007 to 2008 shows that British banks have engaged in reckless risk and fraud. In response, the British government dutifully took out £1.1 trillion in cash and guarantees to bail out poor banks. These policies were further supported by the subsequent injection of £895 billion in quantitative easing. These policies eliminate the threat of bankruptcy from large banks and encourage them to engage in predatory behavior. When profits are privatized and losses are socialized, there is no economic incentive to curb illegal behavior.
Regulatory environment can curb predatory practices, but are weak. In 2012, the U.S. authorities fined $1.9 billion for failing money laundering. HSBC “takes responsibility for the crimes of it and its employees.” It escaped prosecution by signing an extension of the prosecution agreement. No investigation was conducted in the UK. The subsequent 2016 U.S. report showed that British Chancellor George Osborne and financial services regulators appeared to be intervening to protect HSBC.Despite the request, there was no ministerial statement to explain the intervention.
