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HSBC in new sub-prime write-off | HSBC in new sub-prime write-off |
(10 minutes later) | |
Europe's biggest bank HSBC has written off $3.2bn (£1.6bn) in the first three months of 2008 as a result of its exposure to the US sub-prime market. | Europe's biggest bank HSBC has written off $3.2bn (£1.6bn) in the first three months of 2008 as a result of its exposure to the US sub-prime market. |
The write downs, which are lower than the total written off in the final quarter of 2007, are in line with what the bank had predicted. | The write downs, which are lower than the total written off in the final quarter of 2007, are in line with what the bank had predicted. |
HSBC now stands behind Citibank, UBS and Merrill Lynch as the banks with the largest value of writedowns. | HSBC now stands behind Citibank, UBS and Merrill Lynch as the banks with the largest value of writedowns. |
It also reported a further $2.6bn of write-downs in its global banking arm. | |
'Encouraged' | |
The bank said that profits in the US had fallen but that other markets remained strong. | |
The latest writedown takes the amount of bad debt incurred by the bank in the US to £9bn over the past year. | |
But growth in Asia helped counter the big hit taken on US home loans - meaning profits were still bigger than the same period a year earlier. | But growth in Asia helped counter the big hit taken on US home loans - meaning profits were still bigger than the same period a year earlier. |
"I am encouraged by the way we have increased pre-tax profits in every one of the major countries in which we operate in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America," said group chief executive, Michael Geoghegan. | |
Private and commercial banking divisions saw record profits in the quarter, he added. |