The Chief Executive of HSBC has described their problems in the US as shameful and embarrassing.

The bank's reported a 3 percent fall in half-year profits to 6-point-7-5 billion pounds.

But it's had to set aside nearly another billion to deal with a fine for the failure to safeguard against money-laundering in the states - as well as paying compensation for the mis-selling of PPI and other products in the UK.