Could it be that the law here is just unreasonable and only the biggest players can afford to get away with breaking it? (likely for an additional premium)
Do we want every transaction we send out to require an accompanying invoice and paper trail? Payment reviews, account freezing, in-depth explanations for every transaction?
Moving money has become tedious and a bureaucratic nightmare. I doubt HSBC is doing this on purpose, they just have so many obligations already from their transaction volume that it's nearly impossible to comply with regulations.
As we can see all these regulations do not help at all. It's better to scrap them whatsoever and just let law enforcement to do their job on following the trails themselves.
I really don't know if this is a problem. "It is hard to follow the law" doesn't tend to be an excuse for individuals. I have to scrutinize my tax return pretty closely and "it would take a lot of time" isn't going to convince the IRS that I should be let off the hook.
Law enforcement could help. Compared to things like the drug war, we have very few people investigating financial crimes. This appears to be by design, where our society is so invested in enabling the rich to make money that anything that stands in their way is unacceptable.
Can't lose a case if you never try and convict anyone.
Instead if you just impose a fine, the government will actually get lots of money with little work and headache, and everyone involved will be moderately happy.
You're missing the point.
The US government has no desire to try SEC and/or white-collar cases without almost certainty that they will win. They don't really care about deterrence - losses tarnish runs for political office later. (You can watch "Law and Order" to see how that works at the city and state level.)
This is a subtle form of regulatory capture that greatly favors the largest companies. Fines look like a govt. win without the risk of a loss.
It's so bad that federal prosecutors mailed companies to not fund legal defenses for executives charged with a crime, in order to win more cases against defendants who couldn't mount a vigorous defense. (There are even some court forms that ask where you got the money to pay your defense lawyer.)
The Countryside shutdown was a multi-billion dollar debacle for the US government. Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo basically walked away without legal repercussions after it cratered. He even gave discounted mortgages to politicians to ingratiate the company in Washington. Who's going to indict their mortgage holder?
https://www.propublica.org/article/cheat-sheet-whats-happene...
Source: worked for an SEC watchdog.