Oct 27, 2020
HSBC follows Barclays as loan loss provisions recede
How close are bank dividends to making a comeback? British banks suspended their payouts in March after pressure from the Bank of England. Provisions for bad loans were less than half the level expected at $785m, with HSBC now forecasting loan losses for the full year closer to the lower end of its $8bn to £13bn range. As HSBC acknowledged, it will also be subject to "Regulatory consultation", setting up some potentially difficult conversations with the Bank of England. BP eked out an underlying profit of $86m in the third quarter of the year on the measure most closely watched by analysts, a significant improvement on the $6.7bn loss it reported in the second quarter, but down from a $2.3bn profit for the same period last year. Whitbread, which owns Premier Inn, fell to a £725m pre-tax loss in the six months to the end of August, from a £220m profit in the same period last year.
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