HSBC and the UK tax authority, HM Revenue & Customs, will give evidence to the Treasury committee as they try to get to the bottom of the allegations surrounding HSBC's Swiss private banking arm.

The UK's Treasury committee has confirmed it will investigate HSBC's Swiss private bank over allegations that it helped thousands of clients dodge tax.

HSBC's chairman, Douglas Flint, and the chief executive of HM Revenue & Customs, Lin Homer, are expected to give evidence. The committee said details of the hearing are yet to be finalised.

“The committee is concerned about allegations involving HSBC and its Swiss private bank,” said committee chairman Andrew Tyrie in a statement.

Tyrie said the committee would be examining whether private banks had taken sufficient steps to improve their practices.

The Swiss private banking arm's chief executive, Franco Morra, told WealthBriefing that the bank had moved on from its business model before 2008, to which the specific allegations relate. To read more on this, click here.

The UK regulatory body, the Financial Conduct Authority, has also been swept up in the media storm after its chief executive, Martin Wheatley, admitted knowing nothing of the HSBC scandal up until two weekends ago. HMRC was given a leaked file of the Swiss private bank's account holders in 2010. 

“The committee will also examine whether part of the banks' apparent ‘solution’ – de-risking – may have created another problem, that of unreasonably denying customers access to banking services,” said Tyrie.