Banking Giant Sees Better Than Expected Profits.

By Ben Aulakh


British banking giant HSBC have announced pre-tax profits of £7 billion for the first six months of this year.

The announcement came this morning at just after 9.15 am and was better than around the £5 billion profit most analysts were expecting.

Company shares also rose by 4.1 per cent on the back of the announcement, to 28.8 pence per share.

The revenue is more than double that which the bank made in the same period in 2009, when the economy and banking system were in the midst of the recession.

The bank – which operates in more than 80 countries worldwide – was unique in being the only major high street lender not to take a bailout from the previous Labour government.

HSBC have said that have been profitable in every region they operate, except for North America.

This announcement is the first in a week when all of the major high street banks - RBS, Lloyds and Barclays - will be reporting their results for the first 6 months of this financial year.

These reports come as the Chancellor George Osborne has called on lenders to be more forthcoming in offering credit to consumers.

Many customers have been critical of the banks apparent unwillingness to lend, something the banks deny.

All the big high street banking chains are expected to announce strong profits in the next five days.


Photograph by Onnik Krikorian, http://oneworld.blogsome.com/category/economy/