Global bank HSBC reports 2017 pretax profit rose 11 percent

FAN Editor

HSBC said Tuesday that its annual pretax profits rose by 11 percent on strong earnings from Asia, in the latest sign that the London-based global bank’s restructuring to focus even more on the region is reaping further dividends.

The bank said pretax profit, after adjusting for one-off items, rose to $21 billion in 2017, with adjusted revenue climbing 5 percent to $51.5 billion.

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Net income quadrupled to $10.8 billion.

“Asia again contributed a substantial proportion of the group’s profits,” the company’s chairman, Mark Tucker, said in a statement.

HSBC has been carrying out a sweeping multiyear corporate revamp to raise profitability.

The overhaul includes laying off thousands of workers, bringing in new leadership and selling off its businesses around the globe to focus on emerging markets in Asia, which accounts for most of its income.

Tucker, an outsider who took over as chairman in October, said the bank forecast “reasonable growth” for the world’s major economies in 2018, aided by low unemployment, recovering consumer confidence and improving trade. But he warned that rising international tensions and the threat of protectionism are among the risks that “have the potential to disrupt economic activity.”

A new chief executive, company veteran John Flint, is set to take over from retiring Stuart Gulliver on Wednesday.

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