HSBC's profit collapses. The banking giant closes 2016 with a net profit of 2,48 billion dollars compared to 13,5 billion in the previous year, equal to a contraction of 82%. Chairman Douglas Flint points out that the result was determined by the geopolitical tensions that fueled market volatility.
In the last quarter of the year alone, HSBC reported a net loss of $3,45 billion.
Pre-tax profit was $7,1 billion in 2016 and $2,6 billion in the fourth quarter. The result is more than disappointing: analysts were expecting results of 14,4 and 3,7 billion respectively.
The group based in London and Hong Kong had to endure a write-down of the private banking branch, which ended up at the center of investigations for alleged money laundering and tax evasion in Switzerland in favor of dictatorial regimes, for 2,4 billion dollars.
The balance sheet was badly received by the market and the stock dropped 3,4% on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Newswires agency writes that – in view of Brexit – HSBC is preparing to transfer no less than a thousand employees to Paris in the next two years.
