HSBC Holdings beat forecasts with an 18 per cent rise in first-half profit today on the back of strong performance at its investment bank and in emerging markets.
The London-based bank said it made a pretax profit of $12.52 billion in the six months to the end of June, up from $10.64 billion a year ago.
HSBC, whose operations span 77 countries, said pretax profit at its investment banking business jumped 37 per cent, with a gap of 12 per cent between revenue growth and cost growth.
Europe's biggest bank said earlier this year that cost growth in the unit was expected to slow after four years of heavy investment.
Results from Britain's biggest five banks this week are expected to show strong profit growth on the back of buoyant corporate business and mortgage lending, although bad debts are expected to rise sharply as British consumers struggle to pay back unsecured loans.