arasina: Some of the other commenters summed it up well, so I won’t be (too) redundant. I’m not describing the donations as scandalous — indeed, they are completely legal, albeit in an unethical way — but was referring to the recent Senate investigation into HSBC, during which they were exposed for laundering funds for drug cartels, terrorist, etc.
The other posters answered my questions quite well, as did you. Thank you.