Leader of the pack

7 May 2010 By Peter Thal Larsen Follow @Peter_TL

The banking giant made its first quarterly profit in the U.S. since the crisis started. Asia is improving, and HSBC looks betterplaced than most peers to ride the global recovery. But contagion in Europe remains a concern and new regulation will squeeze returns.

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HSBC said firstquarter profits were "well ahead" of the figure a year ago as bad loans fell and economic activity in Asia improved.

The bank said its U.S. operations had made a quarterly profit for the first time since the second quarter of 2007, helped by lower baddebt charges.

Impairment charges in HSBC Finance Corporation, its U.S. consumer lending arm, were $2.29 billion, down from $3.95 billion in the first quarter of 2010.

Michael Geoghegan, HSBC's chief executive, said he was "encouraged" by the results.

"Although we remain alert to the impact of strains being seen in Europe, the emerging market trends are developing well and it is good to be able to report a pretax profit in the US in the first quarter the first quarterly profit since 2007."

HSBC shares fell 5 pence to 623 pence by midafternoon in London.

HSBC's firstquarter interim management statement

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