HSBC Still Cautious, Despite Good Results

HSBC (HBC) cautioned it had seen little sign of an end to the recession yesterday as rising bad debts hit the bank’s first-quarter profits and it warned loan impairments were likely to increase further this year. The bank nonetheless hailed a “resilient” start to the year, lifted by a record performance from the investment banking division and accounting gains on its own debt. The chief executive Michael Geoghegan called the performance “encouraging”, and backed the results in the Global Banking and Markets division, where revenues soared on foreign…

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