Premise: PARIS, March 13 HSBC's Swiss private bank said a request by a French prosecutor for trial was a normal step in the judicial procedure that did not prejudge the result of the case. The French financial prosecutor's office has requested that the bank be sent to trial to answer charges over a suspected tax-dodging scheme for wealthy customers, a judicial source said earlier on Friday. "It is a normal step in the judicial procedure and the outcome of the case is not determined today," a spokesman for the bank said. (Reporting by Chine Labbe; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Mark John)
Hypothesis: Taking a bank to trial over a tax evasion scheme is pretty rare in France.