Simply the best in the West: HSBC posts record profits
HSBC yesterday posted the highest 2011 profit so far of any Western bank after escaping the worst of the Eurozone crisis.
Pre-tax profit rose 15 per cent to $21.9bn (£13.84bn), just short of the $22.2bn expected by analysts. Britain’s largest bank achieved strong revenue growth in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America although it was hit by a $2.4bn loss in its US consumer finance division.
HSBC’s results – which comfortably beat the $19bn profit of US rival JP Morgan – were boosted by a $3.9bn accounting gain on the value of its debt. Stripping that out, underlying pre-tax profit fell six per cent to $17.7bn.
Stuart Gulliver, announcing his first full-year results as chief executive, brushed off concern over a slowdown in emerging markets, where HSBC makes most of its profits, and said the resolution of the Eurozone crisis was the “real issue of negative focus”.
“We remain comfortable with the [outlook in] emerging markets and are confident that GDP growth in emerging markets will be positive and China will have a soft landing.”
The world’s most profitable banks in recent years have been China’s ICBC, which made $32bn in 2010, and China Construction Bank, which made $26.4bn.