HSBC 'helped ' bank chief check currency deposits

A Macau bank accused by US officials of helping North Korea handle counterfeit money has said it relied on the New York operations of banking group HSBC to check large deposits of US currency from North Korean customers, a newspaper reported today.

The International Herald Tribune quoted a letter written by a lawyer for the Macau lender, Banco Delta Asia, that said it sought help from the London-based HSBC Holdings because it could not authenticate the big currency deposits on its own.

“Since the bank did not have the sophisticated technology to analyse large deposits of US currency, such deposits were sent to HSBC New York for analysis before being finally credited to the depositor’s account,” the newspaper quoted the October 18 letter to the US Treasury Department as saying.

The paper said the letter was written by New York-based lawyer Joseph McLaughlin with the law firm of Heller Ehrman, which is representing Banco Delta Asia.