The HSBC fine for money laundering charges reached a record $1.92 billion as Europe's biggest bank settled charges in an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department.

The fine is the largest penalty ever imposed on a bank from the Justice Department.

The Justice Department had accused HSBC Holdings PLC of illegally laundering money for Mexican drug cartels and with violating sanctions by doing business with countries including Iran, Cuba, Libya, Sudan and Myanmar, according to Reuters.

In a statement, HSBC Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver said: "We accept responsibility for our past mistakes. We have said we are profoundly sorry for them, and we do so again. The HSBC of today is a fundamentally different organization from the one that made those mistakes."

Under new senior leadership over the past two years, Gulliver said, "we have been taking concrete steps to put right what went wrong and to participate actively with government authorities in bringing to light and addressing these matters."

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