HSBC posts $6.8B first half pre-tax profit in Asia

HSBC's businesses in Asia delivered profits before tax on a reported basis of US$ 6.8 billion in the first half of 2011.

This represents a 16% from the same period last year.

HSBC in Asia accounted for 59 percent of total Group pre-tax profits, making Asia the key contributor to its overall Group performance.

The bank's Hong Kong delivered profits of 3.1 billion U.S. dollars, up 7%, while the rest of Asia Pacific contributed profits of 3.7 billion U.S. dollars, up 25 percent.

Net fee income in Asia for the first half of this year increased to 2.7 billion U.S. dollars, up 17 percent versus the first half of 2010, the bank said. The bank also experienced stronger demand for wealth management and trade finance products.

HSBC's chief executive Stuart Gulliver said the group is most likely to hire an additional of 3,000 to 5,000 employees every year in emerging markets and had already hired 1,500 more people in the Asia Pacific region.

In contrast, Gulliver said they have begun operational restructuring in Latin America, the United States, the UK, France and the Middle East since the start of 2011, which will reduce headcount by around 5,000.

There will be 25,000 more jobs eliminated before 2013, he added.

Viewing the group as a whole, the giant recorded better-than- expected net profit in the first half of this year of 8.9 billion U.S. dollars, up 35 percent year-on-year.

The full story is available at Xinhua News.