HSBC Profits to be Doubled

The biggest British bank HSBC pre-tax profit of $ 11.1 billion (£ 7 billion) for the first six months of 2010 – more than double its profits for the same period reported last year. The bank said it was profitable in all regions except North America, where he saw losses of $ 80m.

In the UK amounted to $ 2.1 billion profit – an increase of 26%. The British banks Lloyds other, Barclays and RBS are due to report its results later this week. In a sign of improving conditions in the banking sector, he said the amount of money set aside to cover bad loans had set, down by $ 7.5 billion – the lowest level since the financial crisis began in 2008.

In contrast to Lloyds and RBS, HSBC will survive the financial crisis without direct government support. But the chancellor George Osborne yesterday to calls for banks to lend more to businesses to support economic recovery. HSBC chief executive Michael Geoghegan said that his bank had the appetite for credit risk is growing steadily in the first half of the year saw, especially business customers. “This is now by feeding in credit growth, a trend we expect to continue,” he said.

Globally, the Bank’s lending increased by 4% from the second half of 2009, with Asia will see a 15% growth in lending. In the UK amounted to £ 5.1 billion mortgage loans for the first half of the year, said HSBC, while the bank has about EUR 1.4 billion in new loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, paid on a net basis, taking into account existing loans back, and is considered an important measure, HSBC lending to small businesses in the UK fell by 2%.