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Naomi Fowler ■ HSBC: Gangsters of Finance: new film

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We are pleased to recommend the newly released film HSBC: Gangsters of Finance, produced by ARTE TV in German, French, English and Spanish. They describe the film as follows:

Since the 2008 crisis, HSBC has been involved in countless scandals: Money laundering for drug cartels, corruption, tax fraud… And yet the international bank escapes justice with insignificant fines. Why are they “too big to jail?”

This film features some excellent interviews including with the Tax Justice Network’s John Christensen and our senior adviser Jack Blum.

HSBC: Gangsters of Finance explores how big finance can overpower and capture politicians and our democracy. As the film points out, if HSBC bank was a country it’d be the world’s fifth largest economy, managing as it does, three thousand billion dollars.

Ironically it was in the name of global financial stability that the US Department of Justice allowed the bank to continue trading in the United States and didn’t withdraw its licence after it was involved in laundering Colombian and Mexican drug money and US sanctions-busting.

Nonetheless, despite ample evidence of multiple felonies, which stretch back to HSBC’s initial role as a launderer for the proceeds of British opium trade in China, British politicians like former Chancellor George Osborne bent over backwards to protect HSBC from prosecution. Yet as this film shows, the ‘too big to jail’ bank and some of its practices are a threat to global financial stability.

Update – unfortunately the film is no longer available to view online, but you can watch a trailer here:

Update: there appears to be a link that works to watch the film here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4evZt9vADR4

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Comments • 16

  • red
    February 12, 2018 - 9:48 am

    Wheres the video? thx

  • Alan Kennedy
    February 23, 2018 - 3:20 pm

    Hi there

    The link is broken and I can’t find a version with English subtitles. I want to show it to other groups of my students having already shown it to three groups. Any thoughts?

    • March 2, 2018 - 4:32 pm

      Sorry Alan – now fixed

      • April 2, 2018 - 8:05 pm

        I still can only get it in French

        • April 3, 2018 - 9:06 am

          For us it comes up in English but if you go into settings within the video itself in the bottom right corner you should find subtitles there

          • David Moon
            April 3, 2018 - 9:58 am

            Yes, but the subtitles are in French. I have searched everywhere for the English version which I watched months ago but cannot find it now.

          • April 3, 2018 - 11:10 am

            I don’t know what to suggest, sorry about that. For me it comes up in English straightaway

  • KB
    April 9, 2018 - 10:02 am

    Says Video removed by user.

    • April 30, 2018 - 2:12 pm

      Yes, sorry about that, not sure where it’s gone…

  • June 10, 2018 - 10:32 am

    IT is the just a scene and i am not able to find your video. I also heard a lot of people overall can you send me the link to this video? Waiting for your response!

    • June 11, 2018 - 9:01 am

      Sorry about that, we don’t know what happened to the full version

  • Julia
    February 26, 2019 - 6:07 pm

    Hi there, I was wondering if you know where we could get access to the video link? I am aware that this is now over a year ago but we’d be quite interested in screening it. Many thanks in advance.

  • March 19, 2020 - 10:12 pm

    Ironically it was in the name of global financial stability that the US Department of Justice allowed the bank to continue trading in the United States and didn’t withdraw its licence after it was involved in laundering Colombian and Mexican drug money and US sanctions-busting.
    Thanks

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