HSBC sets aside $2b for US, UK problems

LONDON: HSBC's underlying profit dipped 3 percent from a year ago to
$10.6 billion as Europe's biggest bank set aside $2 billion to cover
U.S. law enforcement and regulatory costs and to compensate UK
customers for mis-selling.
A U.S. Senate report this month
slammed HSBC for letting clients shift funds from dangerous and
secretive countries, and HSBC said on Monday it was setting aside $700
million to cover "certain law enforcement and regulatory matters".
It set aside $1.3 billion to compensate UK customers for mis-selling.
HSBC
on Monday reported a pretax profit of $12.7 billion for the six months
to the end of June, up 11 percent on the year and above an average
analyst forecast of $12.5 billion, according to a poll by the company.
But underlying profit, stripping out gains from U.S. assets sales and
losses on the value of its own debt, was down 3 percent on the year to
$10.6 billion. - Reuters