Today's briefing on HSBC...

Editor's note: ...located at One Canary Wharf London. The book that thoroughly pissed off the British Crown was the exposé under the title Dope, Inc.—hosted on sites like Biblioteca Pleyades—frequently references HSBC (Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation) as a central financial institution in the historical and modern architecture of the global narcotics economy. British invention was triangular trade: Drugs, guns and sex. The evidence can be traced back to HSBC bank's 19th-century origins in the British imperial opium trade. HSBC Bank was and remains to this day as a financial conduit that enabled the flow of profits from opium trafficking throughout Asia and China. In later periods, HSBC is repeatedly named in claims involving large-scale money-laundering activities connected to organized narcotics networks, often cited as a prime example of how major financial institutions like Mexico's CIBanco that can allegedly facilitate illicit capital movement under the cover of "legitimate global banking operations." 

"Tank you, HSBC bank… you fu-uck us up so hard on 

da opi-yum, now we all floaty-floaty, very dizzy, much wow!"

While these assertions come from investigative sources and should be approached with critical scrutiny, their recurring appearance in "Dope, Inc." reflects a historical fact of HSBC being deeply entangled—symbolically or materially—with the global drug economy and the mechanisms that sustain it. A recent article on Forbidden Knowledge TV claims that HSBC, via its alleged association with the Mexican bank CIBanco, continues to serve as a backbone of cartel money-laundering operations—arguing that CIBanco, once sanctioned by the U.S., is essentially a front for HSBC's illicit banking network, now being restructured via acquisition by Grupo Financiero Multiva to maintain control over trust and debt instruments in Mexico.

________

Treasury Issues Historic Orders under Powerful New Authority to Counter Fentanyl

June 25, 2025 | U.S. Department of Treasury

Takes First Actions Under FEND Off Fentanyl Act

WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued orders identifying three Mexico-based financial institutions—CIBanco S.A., Institution de Banca Multiple (CIBanco), Intercam Banco S.A., Institución de Banca Multiple (Intercam), and Vector Casa de Bolsa, S.A. de C.V. (Vector)—as being of primary money laundering concern in connection with illicit opioid trafficking, and prohibit, respectively, certain transmittals of funds involving CIBanco, Intercam, and Vector. These orders are the first actions by FinCEN pursuant to the Fentanyl Sanctions Act and the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, which provide Treasury with additional authorities to target money laundering associated with the trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, including by cartels.

CIBanco and Intercam, commercial banks with over $7 and $4 billion in total assets, respectively, and Vector, a brokerage firm managing nearly $11 billion in assets, have collectively played a longstanding and vital role in laundering millions of dollars on behalf of Mexico-based cartels and facilitating payments for the procurement of precursor chemicals needed to produce fentanyl.

"Financial facilitators like CIBanco, Intercam, and Vector are enabling the poisoning of countless Americans by moving money on behalf of cartels, making them vital cogs in the fentanyl supply chain," said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. "Through the first use of this powerful authority, today’s actions affirm Treasury's commitment to using all tools at our disposal to counter the threat posed by criminal and terrorist organizations trafficking fentanyl and other narcotics."

These actions were taken within the broad context of the strong U.S.-Mexico inter-governmental relationship, the hallmarks of which include close collaboration and timely information exchange. Both the United States and Mexico are committed to financial systems with strong anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) controls that effectively protect their citizens from the transnational illicit finance threats of cartels trafficking fentanyl and other drugs.

CIBANCO

As set out in the order, FinCEN determined that CIBanco, a foreign financial institution operating outside the United States, is of primary money laundering concern in connection with illicit opioid trafficking based on its long-standing pattern of associations, transactions, and provision of financial services that facilitate illicit opioid trafficking by Mexico-based cartels, including the Beltran-Leyva Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), and Gulf Cartel. CIBanco has also facilitated the procurement of precursor chemicals from China for illicit purposes.

For example, a CIBanco employee in 2023 knowingly facilitated the creation of an account to purportedly launder $10 million on behalf of a Gulf Cartel member. From 2021 through 2024, CIBanco processed over $2.1 million in payments on behalf of Mexico-based companies to China-based companies that shipped precursor chemicals to Mexico for illicit purposes.

Please go to home.treasury.gov to continue reading.