A Swiss canton investigating the Swiss private bank of HSBC has called a halt to its investigation, with neither the bank or staff suspected of current criminal acts.

A probe by Geneva prosecutors into the Swiss private banking business of Hong Kong/London-listed HSBC has been closed after authorities found that neither the bank or its staff are suspected of current criminal acts, HSBC said yesterday. No criminal charges will be brought, HSBC said.

The investigation was carried out by the public prosecutor of the canton of Geneva into HSBC Private Bank (Suisse). This unit was the centre of a political and media storm earlier this year after the Washington DC-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists used data leaked from the bank to claim that thousands of account holders were dodging taxes.

The bank at the time said that, since 2008, it had radically changed its procedures and that many accounts had been shut. It is understood that many accounts were closed as long ago as the mid-1990s.

HSBC said that as part of the agreement to close the investigation, it will pay SFr40 million ($42.8 million) in compensation to the Geneva authorities for past organisational deficiencies.

“The bank has fully cooperated with the investigation throughout and will not face criminal charges,” it said in a statement.

The Geneva investigation was launched in February, in the wake of the media reports about past practices at the bank.

“HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA has acknowledged that the compliance culture and standards of due diligence in place in the bank in the past were not as robust as they are today,” it said. “In recent years the bank has undergone a radical transformation. It has implemented numerous initiatives designed to prevent its banking services being used to evade taxes or launder money. The strategic repositioning has also strengthened the bank’s focus on core markets and reduced its client base by almost 70 per cent, from about 30,000 accounts in 2007 to some 10,000 in 2014,” it said.

“The Geneva prosecutor acknowledges the progress the bank has made in recent years, including the improvements in its compliance function, internal processes and technology,” the statement added.

The saga of the Swiss bank also added to controversy about Switzerland’s decades-old bank secrecy laws; they also raised questions about how information stolen from the bank by a former employee – as is alleged – should be used in criminal or other investigations. Disclosure of bank account data is a crime under Swiss law, making the role of so-called “whistleblowers” difficult.