HSBC’s profits rose 16% during chief executive John Flint’s first year at the helm, but a difficult fourth quarter and slumping fixed income revenues meant it missed analyst expectations. The UK bank made a pre-tax profit of $19.9bn in 2018 — below the $21.3bn predicted by banking analysts tracked by Refinitiv, the data provider. A 5% increase in group revenues, to $53.8bn, was also below consensus. Flint,...
UK bank HSBC fell short of analyst expectations with a 5% rise in profits for 2018, and pointed to uncertainty around Brexit as a major contributing factor. The bank saw pre-tax profits hit $19.9bn for the year, below analyst forecasts of $21.3bn, following declines in fixed income revenues and a challenging Q4. In addition to Brexit, the bank highlighted difficulties arising from the US-China trade war, as well as uncertainty in terms of future interest rates.