London - HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver said he was the right person to run Europe's biggest bank and fix problems of the past after British lawmakers berated it for allowing "industrial-scale tax avoidance" at its Swiss arm.
Gulliver faced more than two hours of hostile questioning from the lawmakers on Monday, along with a former head of HSBC's private banking and one of its non-executive directors, over a tax evasion scandal that has rocked the bank.
The CEO's personal financial affairs have added further fuel to the row over whether the bank helped clients dodge taxes after Britain's Guardian newspaper said he had sheltered millions of pounds in HSBC's Swiss private bank via a Panamanian company.