HSBC profit rises in 2018 despite late jitters

HONG KONG: HSBC profits climbed in 2018 despite a bruising final quarter as worries over the global economy and the US-China trade war began to bite, the banking giant said yesterday. The London-headquartered behemoth told investors it was still aiming to meet targets despite the looming twin storms of Brexit and the long-running trade impasse between Washington and Beijing.

But analysts warned it remained vulnerable to any fallout from either issue becoming a fullblown crisis in 2019. Overall, last year saw strong growth for HSBC with net profit ballooning 30 percent to $12.6 billion.

Profit before tax climbed 16 percent to $19.9 billion. The results capped the first full year at the helm for chief executive officer John Flint, who has vowed growth while keeping a lid on costs.

But the yearly growth figures were dampened by a tough final quarter when the markets-especially those in Hong Kong and China-went into meltdown over global trade fears.

Adjusted pretax profit fell one percent to $3.4 billion in October-December, missing the $4.4 billion forecast by analysts. Analyst Dickie Wong from Kingston Securities said the bank missed estimates towards the end of the year partly because China and Hong Kong are its “most relied (on) market”.

“The slowing down of the economy, the trade war between China and the US also remain an uncertainty. That’s why it missed estimates,” he said. —AFP