HSBC posts solid result
Strong growth in its global banking and wealth management service, HSBC Premier, has helped HSBC in Australia report a 42 per cent increase in year on year pre-tax profit in 2008.
However, in reporting the result, HSBC Australia chief executive Stuart Davis acknowledged that 2009 was going to be a tough year for the Australian market, with pressure on financial margins combined with a weakening credit quality environment.
Drilling down on the factors contributing to the result, Davis said HSBC Premier had grown its Australian customer base by over 76 per cent in the last year.
However, the data published by HSBC today also showed that profit within its personal financial services division had been more than halved to US$19 million, down from US$41 million in 2007, with this being strongly offset by an 84 per cent increase in pre-tax profit for its commercial banking division and a 143 per cent increase in profit for its global banking and markets division.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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