Dent removal

4 March 2013 By Peter Thal Larsen Follow @Peter_TL

Mis-selling charges and a record bank fine knocked financial performance in 2012, yet HSBC’s bottom line suffered barely a dent. Strong capital means more cash will flow to dividends. Accidents will happen, but it’s hard to imagine a shock HSBC couldn’t absorb better than peers.

This content is for Subscribers only

Context News

HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, pledged to increase its dividend as strong growth in Hong Kong and other core Asian markets boosted its capital even though annual profit fell short of expectations.
The bank on March 4 said it made a 2012 pre-tax profit of $20.6 billion, down 6 percent from the previous year and below the average forecast of $22.7 billion from 28 analysts polled by Reuters. Profit was hurt by a $5.2 billion loss on the value of its own debt.
HSBC, already one of the highest dividend payers among Britain’s blue-chip companies, said it plans to bump up its first three interim payouts on 2013 earnings by 11 percent to 10 cents per share.
At 1100 GMT, HSBC’s London-listed shares were down 2.8 percent at 708 pence.

Email a friend

Please complete the form below.

Required fields *