Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 10, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleHSBC plans to pay $300 million to settle a French tax probe involving cum-cum trades. The settlement is pending review by a Paris judge.
Dec 10 (Reuters) - HSBC is preparing to pay around $300 million to settle a French criminal investigation into its alleged role in the "cum-cum" tax scandal, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
HSBC said in October it had made a $300 million provision against probes into cum-cum trades, which involve foreign investors temporarily transferring shares in French companies to local tax-exempt entities, such as domestic banks, around dividend payment dates to reduce or avoid withholding tax.
Bloomberg said a proposed settlement with prosecutors from the Parquet National Financier (PNF) is expected to be reviewed by a Paris judge at a court hearing in the coming weeks.
HSBC declined to comment. The PNF, when approached by Reuters, neither confirmed nor commented on the report.
French bank Credit Agricole's investment banking arm agreed in September to pay about 88.2 million euros ($102.66 million) to settle the dividend tax case.
($1 = 0.8592 euros)
(Reporting by DhanushVignesh Babu in Bengaluru, Lawrence White in London and Gabriel Stargardte in Paris; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Alexander Smith)
The 'cum-cum' tax scandal involves foreign investors temporarily transferring shares in French companies to local tax-exempt entities to reduce or avoid withholding tax around dividend payment dates.
A criminal investigation is a process where law enforcement agencies gather evidence to determine if a crime has been committed and to identify the responsible parties.
A tax probe is an examination by tax authorities to investigate potential tax evasion or non-compliance with tax laws by individuals or corporations.
A financial provision is an amount set aside in a company's accounts to cover anticipated future liabilities or expenses, such as legal settlements or tax obligations.
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