U.S. Considers HSBC Charge That Could Upend 2012 Settlement

By Greg Farrell and Keri Geiger, Bloomberg News

U.S. prosecutors are considering a criminal charge against a unit of HSBC Holdings Plc related to conduct on its foreign-exchange desk, according to two people familiar with the matter, imperiling an earlier deal that let the bank avoid prosecution.

The Justice Department has alreadychargedtwo people who were on the bank’s foreign-exchange desk with improper trading and is asking whether the bank’s internal review of that trading this year should have resulted in disciplinary action, the people said.

Prosecutors’ fresh investigation of HSBC brings them closer to a step ...