London: HSBC Holdings (HSBA.L), Europe's biggest bank, said its first half profits halved from a year ago to USD 5 billion as it was hit by rising bad debts in the United States, Europe and Asia.
HSBC on Monday reported a pretax profit for the six months to the end of June of USD 5.02 billion, down from USD 10.2 billion a year earlier but just ahead of an average forecast of USD 4.9 billion from 11 analysts in a poll.
Loan impairments and other credit risk provisions were USD 13.93 billion in the first half, up USD 3.9 billion from the year before.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, August 03, 2009, 14:25