SINGAPORE, Oct 25 – HSBC reported a 42% drop in third-quarter pre-tax profit on Tuesday due to losses from the sale of its French subsidiary and rising bad loans, but its profit margin interests rose thanks to rate hikes around the world.
The London-based bank made a pretax profit of $3.15 billion in the three months ended September 30. This figure is down from $5.4 billion a year ago, but well above the $2.45 billion median of analyst estimates compiled by the bank.
The results included a $2.4 billion hit from the sale of the bank’s business in France, which is part of a broader strategy by HSBC to divest parts of its former global empire to boost profits.
HSBC, which makes most of its sales and profits in Asia, has come under pressure from Ping An Insurance Group, its largest shareholder, to explore options including spinning off and listing its main business in Asia in order to increase shareholder returns.
The bank is also exploring a possible sale of its Canadian subsidiary, as it tries to streamline operations to boost profits in the face of pressure from Ping An.
HSBC, the first major UK bank to report quarterly results, said quarterly performance was hit by credit provisions of $1.1bn, compared with the release of $659m of cash reserves set aside for credit losses. expected in the same quarter a year ago.