HSBC reported a 62 per cent slump in annual pre-tax profit that fell way short of analysts’ estimates due to one-time charges related to some businesses, and announced a new $1 billion (£0.80 billion) share buy-back.
Europe’s biggest bank by assets said on Tuesday profit before tax for 2016 fell to $7.1 billion (£5.71 billion) from $18.87 billion (£15.18 billion) in the previous year. That compared with the average analyst estimate of $14.4 billion (£11.59 billion), according to Thomson Reuters data.
The 2016 profit reflected a $3.2 billion (£2.57 billion) impairment of goodwill in its global private banking business in Europe and the impact of its sale of operations in Brazil, the bank said in a statement to the stock exchanges.
The private banking impairment charges mainly relate to its acquisition of Safra Republic Holdings in 1999, it said, without giving details.
