yup they are assholes alright buut the article is a lil biased no?
When Makhlouf appeared on the OFAC list in 2008, HSBC responded not by severing ties with him but by trying to figure out what to do about the accounts the Syrian power broker had in its Geneva and Cayman Islands branches. "We have determined that accounts held in the Caymans are not in the jurisdiction of, and are not housed on any systems in, the United States," wrote one compliance officer. "Therefore, we will not be reporting this match to OFAC."
Translation: We know the guy's on a terrorist list, but his accounts are in a place the Americans can't search, so screw them.
technically American law doesn't cover the planet, just because the USA says this guy is bad doesn't mean everyone has to stop what they are doing and listen ^^
apart from that it is a niceish article
but everyone knows banks are criminals right?