HSBC: the long goodbye

Adjusted profits before tax rose 12.4 per cent to $11.9bn at the half year, beating forecasts and taking the shares briefly within a whisker of post-crisis high. Core tier one equity, a measure of financial strength, has risen to 14.7 per cent of risk-weighted assets. As rates rise they should fatten a net interest margin that has slipped to 1.64 per cent. Westerners fret perpetually over high Chinese leverage, to which Chinese bankers huffily reply: "Look at our assets". Over the past six months, the global banking and markets unit raised adjusted profits before tax 32 per cent to $3.4bn. Over the next six months, who knows?

Read the full story

 Related companies

Make a complaint about HSBC by viewing their customer service contacts.

•