The BBC’s Panorama television programme and The Guardian meanwhile reported that the files included evidence that HSBC colluded with some clients to hide accounts from tax authorities in their home countries.
HSBC’s Swiss banking arm insisted Monday it has since undergone a “radical transformation”.
“HSBC’s Swiss Private Bank began a radical transformation in 2008 to prevent its services from being used to evade taxes or launder money,” Franco Morra, the head of HSBC’s Swiss unit, told AFP in an email.