HSBC First-quarter Pre-tax Profits Drop Nearly 30%

HSBC Holdings reported a 27 percent fall in quarterly profit on Tuesday, as the Asia-focused bank suffered from decreased revenues and slowing growth in Hong Kong.

Europe's largest bank with a market value of US$130 billion posted a pretax profit of US$4.2 billion for the first quarter ended March, versus US$5.78 billion a year earlier.

The results were better than the US$3.72 billion average estimate of 16 analysts compiled by HSBC.

The London-headquartered bank said expected credit loss came in at US$600 million compared with the year-ago quarter when it unlocked US$400 million of reserves as the outlook improved.

"Increased ECL primarily reflected the direct and broader economic impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war and inflationary pressures on the forward economic outlook," it said.

About two-thirds of the bank's reported pretax profit comes from Asia. (Reuters)