HSBC says profit up as cost-cutting advances

HSBC Corp. said yesterday its latest quarterly profit rose nearly 7 percent over a year earlier as the global bank cut costs and revenue rose.
Profit in the third quarter rose to USD5.6 billion, HSBC reported. Revenue rose 2 percent to $12.8 billion.
Revenue rose in every global region, said Chief executive Stuart Gulliver in a statement. He said an initiative to cut costs has achieved $2.8 billion of annualized savings.
The latest figures were an improvement over the first half of the year, when HSBC said profit fell 29 percent due to market volatility and uncertainty about China’s outlook and Britain’s future in Europe.
“Our third-quarter performance reflected the strength of our network and the deepening impact of our strategic actions,” said Gulliver’s statement. “Our global universal banking model generated higher adjusted revenue than for the same period last year, and our cost reduction programs continued to reduce our operating expenses.”
HSBC is in the midst of a reorganization aimed at focusing on faster-growing Asia, where it makes about two-thirds of its profit. However, that has meant a bigger impact on earnings as Chinese economic growth cools.
The bank said it recognized a $1.7 billion loss on the sale of its Brazil unit to Banco Bradesco S.A., which was completed on July 1. AP