Jennifer Shasky Calvery — the Treasury Department’s top anti-money laundering official — has announced her intentions to leave the U.S. government agency to take a top post at HSBC Holdings Plc.
“I hope that we have enhanced the agency’s solid foundation so that FinCEN can best perform its mission for years into the future,” Calvery said in a press release.
Before her role as the head of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Calvery was a federal prosecutor.
Though her resignation is public knowledge, neither Calvery nor HSBC have confirmed her new role (nor denied it; neither have offered any comment at all). Sources close to the matter quoted by Reuters have indicated that Calvery will work with HSBC in an as-yet-not-fully-defined senior global financial crime-fighting role.
Her move to HSBC comes as the bank is struggling to put anti-money laundering controls into place, as required by a 2012 pact with the Justice Department. That pact is part of a $1.9 billion settlement HSBC was ordered into after it became quite clear in 2012 that the bank was a favored home for various drug cartels and their funds.
At FinCEN, Calvery focused civil enforcement on casinos, money transmitters and the FinTech industry. She is known to have enforced money laundering rules so forcefully that, last year, she managed to draw the negative attention of the Office of Personnel Management and members of Congress. The bureau’s hiring authority was temporarily revoked by the Treasury based on rejecting large pools of qualified veterans.
Her resignation takes effect on May 27. It is unknown when she will begin at HSBC.
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