HSBC first-quarter profit falls 20 per cent to $6.79 billion

HSBC, Europe's largest bank, said first-quarter profit fell 20 per cent, as gains from asset sales dwindled and investment- banking revenue slipped.

Pre-tax profit declined to $6.79 billion from $8.43 billion in the same period a year earlier, London-based HSBC said in a statement today.

Operating income before provisions slipped to $15.9 billion from $18.4 billion. The lender, which derives the bulk of its profit from Asia, has closed or sold more than 60 businesses since 2011 to focus on its most profitable markets and is also seeking to cut costs.

One-time gains from asset sales in 2013 weren’t repeated in the quarter, while operating costs dropped 2 per cent to $8.8 billion, HSBC said today.

HSBC's income "miss was offset by strong cost and risk performance," Chirantan Barua, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein who rates the lender outperform, wrote in a note to clients today.

The global banking and markets unit, which houses HSBC’s investment banking activities “performed much better than peers.”

Pre-tax profit at the division dropped 20 per cent to $2.87 billion from the year-earlier period as income from its currencies and rates operations declined.

Bloomberg