BusinessHSBC Says Helping With Forex Probe As Q3 Profits Rise

HSBC Says Helping With Forex Probe As Q3 Profits Rise

Ask ZiVA 728x90 Ads

HSBC (HSBA.L) has become the latest major bank to confirm it is helping with a probe into possible manipulation of global currency markets, after reporting a 10 percent rise in quarter profits on Monday, aided by lower costs.

HSBC said it was cooperating with early-stage investigations by Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority and agencies in several countries into a number of firms, including HSBC, relating to trading on the foreign exchange market.

Rivals including Barclays (BARC.L), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and JPMorgan (JPM.N) said last week they were co-operating with regulators examining possible collusion in the $5.3 trillion a day currency market, the latest in a string of conduct issues to hit the industry.

Glo

HSBC Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver has pledged to instill a more responsible culture and reduce risk across his bank after it was fined a record $1.9 billion last year for lax anti-money laundering compliance in Mexico and elsewhere.

HSBC reported an underlying pretax profit of $5.1 billion for the three months to September 30, up 10 percent from a restated $4.6 billion last year, after excluding the impact of changes in the value of its own debt.

On a statutory basis, profits rose 30 percent from a year ago.

The rise, in line with analysts’ forecasts, was underpinned by a $700 million drop in operating expenses to $9.6 billion, but the bank said that was mainly due to the absence of one-off items last year. Underlying costs were up on the year due to investments, wage inflation and regulatory costs.

By 0850 GMT (3:50 EDT) HSBC shares were up 2 percent at 701 pence, outperforming a flat European bank index .SX7P.

REUTERS

About the Author

Homepage | Recent Posts

More like this
Related