BBC News Channel

The BBC's legal affairs correspondent, Clive Coleman, says that the HMRC has not had a great track record when it comes to prosecuting over tax evasion. It has often taken another route called civil recovery. That involves the accused paying back all the tax and a fine, which can by 200% of the original amount.

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Just a reminder that at 15:30 Labour's Shabana Mahmood will ask an urgent question in the House of Commons about the HSBC scandal. Treasury Minister David Gauke will answer the question on behalf of the Chancellor. To watch, click on the Live Coverage tab at the top the Business live page.

"We have systematically worked through all the Lagarde data. As a result tax, interest and penalties have now been paid by those who hid their assets in Switzerland to get out of paying tax. The decision to prosecute is made by the Crown Prosecution Service based on the facts."

BBC News Channel

Tessa Lorimer, a tax litigation expert, explains why almost no one has been prosecuted over the HSBC tax scandal. Before 2013 it was "very difficult" to get information from abroad, she says. But now it is easier and HMRC will be gathering more information from overseas to see if prosecutions can go ahead.

Chris Roebuck
Cass Business School

"No one seriously thinks that Stephen Green, the CEO of HSBC at the time, a lay preacher in the Church of England and former Government trade minister, would have sanctioned any illegal activity. So how did it happen ? The likely reason is that lower down the organisation someone, in an attempt to deliver their financial targets and please customers, overstepped the mark and did something they shouldn't have done."

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The Prime Minister has commented on the appointment of former HSBC chief Lord Green as trade minister: "Stephen Green was an excellent trade minister, he did a good job, but I would also add that no Government has done more than this one to crack down on tax evasion and regressive tax avoidance. I put it absolutely at the head of my G8 agenda to make sure there's more tax transparency, the big companies pay their taxes properly and that we raise money from people previously evading and avoiding taxes and we will go on doing that as a Government."

Jeremy Macleod
Live page reader

"The revolving door between big business, banks, consultancies and government is exactly why these things happen in the first place, it was the same under Labour, with the ridiculous, catch all excuse being that only tax consultants with close connections to their banking and business chums are qualified to make new tax policy and enforce the law. Anyone at HMRC who actually does a good job chasing people down is offered absurd sums to jump across to KPMG or a big bank, which removes the threat."

"The HSBC case is quite different from other recent tax scandals," says Prof Crawford Spence of Warwick Business School, who researches tax avoidance. "HSBC has been complicit in clear tax evasion and law breaking rather than legitimate tax avoidance. The latest details to emerge from the Public Accounts Committee are also particularly damning for the UK tax authorities, HMRC. It appears that we need to rely on computer hackers, investigative journalists and corporate whistleblowers to expose tax evasion."

More woe for HSBC today, as the judge in charge of a Belgian investigation into the Swiss private banking arm of HSBC is considering issuing an international arrest warrant for the group's directors because they are not cooperating, a prosecution spokeswoman said. Belgium charged the unit with tax fraud and money laundering in November, accusing the bank of offering diamond dealers and other wealthy clients in Belgium ways of hiding cash and evading tax, Reuters reported. A spokesperson for HSBC private bank in Switzerland was not immediately available for comment.

Fran Hunter and Mohammad Mirbashiri, BBC Monitoring

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This gem from Spanish news site El Confidencial's coverage of the HSBC scandal, external: "More than half on the list are men, but the most common profession listed on bank details is 'housewife' - a term that is also used with unusual frequency on other countries' lists and which is not only used to describe married women, but also businesswomen, architects and even princesses."

BBC Radio 4

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The World at One dusts off an old interview with former HSBC boss Lord Green, who is also an ordained priest. We hear him telling Shaun Ley that "the profit motive alone is not enough as a guide for human behaviour".

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As George Osborne is in Istanbul, the government statement on the HSBC scandal is likely to be handled by Treasury minister David Gauke.

Nigel Cassidy
BBC News

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"A spokesman told the midday meeting that action has been taken at EU and global level to combat tax evasion, to improve transparency and increase exchange of information between tax administrations. The EU and Switzerland forged an agreement on the taxation of savings in 2004. That agreement is now being revised to broaden its scope. It will come into force by 2018 at the latest and will put an end to the use of secret bank accounts."

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Ed Balls, has tweeted a link to questions, external that George Osborne and David Cameron "need to answer today on HSBC, tax evasion & Lord Green".

Asked if David Cameron now regretted appointing Lord Green, the PM's spokesman said: "Absolutely not. The PM's view hasn't changed, Lord Green was an excellent minister."

Paul Waugh, editor of PoliticsHome.com

Speaker has gone for it. Urgent Commons Question granted to @ShabanaMahmood asking for statement from Chancellor on HSBC 3.30pm

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Although the HSBC story revolves around money held in Swiss bank accounts, we should point out that simply having a Swiss account does not make the holder guilty of tax evasion. So when is it acceptable to have a Swiss bank account? Read this useful guide by the BBC's Brian Milligan.

David Cameron's spokesperson has said that the prime minister never discussed the issue with Lord Green, adding: "Tax evasion is always wrong. Rightly HMRC pursues and looks into and investigates cases where there are concerns and it must always do that. Robustly and forcefully. Tax evasions and aggressive tax avoidance is always wrong."

Lobby group Global Witness has called for tighter banking regulation and criminal penalties for senior executives responsible for serious failings to prevent any similar cases in the future. "These repeat offences show just how far Britain's biggest bank has been willing to go to help clients hide their money and its origins. We need real action against individual executives when then intentionally seek to subvert the law," said Robert Palmer, head of the anti-money laundering campaign at Global Witness.

Patrick Wintour, political editor of the Guardian

Labour has asked Treasury to make a Commons statement with regard to HSBC. George Osborne on way to Turkey for G20 meeting.