HSBC Safeguard | HSBC Canada

HSBC Safeguard is a series of initiatives to protect our customers, the bank and the financial system from financial crime. It involves ensuring our customer information is updated to strengthen our ability to combat financial crime. In addition, we will be reviewing our products from time to time to ensure that we do not offer products that do not provide sufficient protection for our customers.

In today's complex economy, financial crimes can take many forms including money laundering, sanctions evasion, fraud, tax evasion, terrorist financing, bribery and corruption. As financial service providers, banks provide a gateway into the legitimate economy. As a result, we need to take extra measures to protect our customers, the bank and the financial system generally from financial crime.

Sanctions are a policy tool which national governments such as Canada and organizations such as the United Nations and European Union use to constrain and deter perceived threats to their security, or to conform international conduct to recognized international standards. Sanctions help to stop crimes like terrorism, drug trafficking and arms dealing by imposing restrictions on the business that banks can do with specific people, corporations or countries. This information is detailed in Canadian sanctions regulations issued by Global Affairs Canada.

HSBC Sanctions Policy Statement (PDF, 64KB)

As the world becomes increasingly connected and technologically advanced, there are unfortunately greater opportunities for the misuse of the financial system. A key initiative to combat financial crime is updating our customer information records so that we are better able to identify unusual transactions. To effectively do this, we may ask you for information that we need to help us in identify transactions that are unusual for you. Unusual transactions may suggest an attempt to make unauthorized use of your identity, account, or otherwise engage in financial crimes against you, us or others in our communities. We may need to from time to time understand the source of funds and the purpose of transactions being conducted by you and/or your business.

At HSBC, addressing financial crime globally has long been one of our main priorities. It is our duty to ensure that you can bank with us safely, securely and confidently. Improving the way we share and manage customer information will help us continue to fight effectively against such risks and prevent misuse of our service and the banking system.

At HSBC we want to protect our customers and the global banking system by improving the way we manage customer information.

We gather information from our customers to help us identify the banking activity that may be inconsistent with our understanding of your intended use of banking facilities we provide. Having accurate and up-to-date information about our customers is the most effective way to do this, and we appreciate your ongoing cooperation and assistance in helping us with this objective.

Our intent is to ensure we have the most up-to-date records and the information to protect you and the bank against financial crime.

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. For the security of all our customers, we have adopted our own Privacy Code to meet federal and provincial privacy legislation requirements. Please refer to our Protecting Your Privacy (PDF, 38KB) brochure for answers to common questions about the ways in which we collect, use, and share your personal information.