HSBC, Libor, JPMorgan, etc. etc.

The City of London and Wall Street are vying for the not-so-envious position of most disliked and least trusted financial centre. HSBC in London is charged with money laundering, the big banks in London of rigging Libor, and JP Morgan in New York of having traders behaving badly to the tune of a potential $9bn. Is it something in the air? The phrase "rotten to the core" springs to mind. London is getting the most attention, at least this month. The City at one time had the motto "my word is my bond" and proclaimed itself to live by that when it came to honoring commitments, mostly in share dealings and the money market. Obviously this no longer applies and just about anything goes...  More at: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-17/libor-jpmorgan-ryanair-visa-mastercard-schering-compliance

As if the recent Libor (interest rate fixing) scandal wasn't enough, we now hear that British high street bank, HSBC, provided a conduit for "drug kingpins and rogue nations", according to a US Senate committee investigating money laundering claims at the bank. Its report said suspicious funds from countries including Mexico, Iran and Syria had passed through the bank.  If this was a movie script, we'd all be thinking it was way too far-fetched..this sort of thing couldn't possibly happen in reality...but, guess what?  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18867054

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's banking regulator on Tuesday defended its role in a money laundering scandal engulfing HSBC Holdings Plc, saying it had repeatedly told the bank to improve lax controls over suspect funds passing through its accounts. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-hsbc-mexicobre86g1dz-20120717,0,1921266.story  And this latest money laundering scandal casts something of a cloud over UK trade minister Lord Green:  http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/davidhughes/100171357/hsbc-money-laundering-scandal-casts-a-cloud-over-lord-green-the-trade-minister/

So what about those of us who have lost our trust in the main banks and want to move our money elsewhere. Is there an alternative to the high street bank? The Telegraph and Independent provide some ideas in the links below: 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/banking/9369435/Is-there-an-alternative-to-the-high-street-bank.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/best-bets-to-wave-goodbye-to-the-greedy-banks-7922236.html