NEW YORK, Dec 11: Hong Kong Shanghai Bank of China (HSBC), a UK-based banking company, plans to acknowledge that for years it ignored possible money laundering, part of a record $1.9 billion settlement with US, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

It is expected to forfeit nearly $1.3bn as part of a deferred prosecution agreement, the largest-ever US forfeiture for a bank, according to people briefed on the agreement between HSBC and multiple US agencies. The deal includes a civil fine of more than $650m.

As part of the agreement, the bank will admit to violating the Bank Secrecy Act, the Trading with the Enemy Act and other US laws intended to prohibit money laundering, a government official said.

In a statement, HSBC confirmed the US settlement, saying it expected to reach a similar agreement with UK authorities soon, WSJ said.

CEO Stuart Gulliver said: “We accept responsibility for our past mistakes. We have said we are profoundly sorry for them, and we do so again. The HSBC of today is a fundamentally different organisation from the one that made those mistakes.”

Shares of HSBC climbed 0.3 pc on Tuesday in Hong Kong.

The bank, whose history dates to an era when the British empire was at its height, has spent the past two years selling off unprofitable businesses and centralising its global structure stretched across 80 countries.