Allen & Overy Paris represented HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA in the criminal proceedings that saw the Swiss bank negotiate with the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (parquet national financier) the first French style deferred prosecution agreement (Convention Judiciaire d'Intérêt Public) (CJIP) to be blessed by a French Court.

This settlement without any admission of guilt or criminal liability, unprecedented under French law, was introduced by law n° 2016-1691 of 9 December 2016, relating to Transparency, Fight Against Corruption, and Economic Modernization), the so-called “Sapin II law”.

The Order validating the CJIP was issued by the President of the Paris Court (Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris) on 14 November 2017, after a Public hearing. It acknowledges the dismissal of the laundering of tax evasion proceeds and illicit banking solicitation charges brought against HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA, upon fulfilment of its obligations under the CJIP. Hence, by paying to the French Treasury the sum of € 300 million it had committed to, the Bank definitively gave an end to the investigation it had been subject to for a number of years.

This first CJIP will be a milestone. It should serve as a benchmark for a variety of groups under investigation for corruption, influence peddling, money-laundering of tax evasion and related criminal offences (infractions connexes). Even as potential targets of prosecution in France, corporates will need to re-consider and assess their opportunity to settle with the National Financial Prosecutor by admitting to “the facts” and potentially accepting their “legal qualification”, in order to avoid a trial and a criminal conviction.

Denis Chemla (Partner, Head of Litigation) and Dan Benguigui (Counsel, Litigation) assisted HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA in these proceedings.

The Litigation Department of Allen & Overy's Paris office is composed of three partners (Denis Chemla, Erwan Poisson and Marie Stoyanov), one Counsel (Dan Benguigui) and seventeen associates. In addition to its proven expertise in banking and financial litigation, as well as in international arbitration, our team has developed one of the leading white collar practices on the French market, whose expertise covers all areas of criminal business law: corruption, money-laundering, market abuse, tax evasion, deceptive marketing practices, fraud, press, labour and corporate criminal law…We also assist our clients in regulatory contentious matters, including within ongoing inspections, disciplinary investigations, and before the enforcement authorities of the French financial (the Autorité des marchés financiers) and banking (Autorité de contrôle prudential et de regulation) supervisory authorities.