Briefs: AOFM outlines funding plans, HSBC violated AML law

The Australian Office of Financial Management yesterday provided an outline of its funding task for the Australian Government in the next financial year. Treasury bond issuance in 2012/13 is expected to be around A$35 billion. After accounting for maturities of $26 billion, this represents net issuance of $9 billion, the AOFM said. It plans to issue a new Treasury bond line, maturing in 2024, in the first quarter of the financial year and will sell around $2 billion in indexed bonds.

In response to a Reuters report that HSBC Bank USA has been found to have violated anti-money laundering laws "on a massive scale" over a number of years, a spokesperson for HSBC's local operation said it was business as usual. "We continue our standard reporting to Austrac in compliance with AML/CTF law," the bank said. Reuters said HSBC Bank USA's internal policing activities were under investigation by the Federal Reserve, the Justice Department, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Manhattan District Attorney and the Office of Foreign Assets Control.