HSBC's first quarter profit nearly halves as it counts cost of pandemic

HSBC Holdings saw its first-quarter profit nearly halved as it boosted provisions against bad loans which are expected to rise during the coronavirus pandemic.

Profit before tax came in at $3.2 billion for the period between January and March, which is down from $6.2 billion a year ago and below an average analyst forecast of $3.7 billion compiled by the bank.

Noel Quinn, group chief executive, said “The economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our customers has been the main driver of the change in our financial performance since the turn of the year. The resultant increase in expected credit losses in the first quarter contributed to a material fall in reported profit before tax compared with the same period last year.

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"HSBC has always been there for our customers in times of crisis, and we are working hard to support them during this unprecedented period of disruption. We do so from a position of strength, with robust levels of capital, funding and liquidity.

HSBC has published its latest financial resultsHSBC has published its latest financial results
HSBC has published its latest financial results

"The market-specific support measures that we are offering our personal and business customers have had strong take-up, and we remain responsive to their changing needs. We are also working closely with governments around the world to channel fiscal support to the real economy quickly and efficiently.

"I take the well-being of our people extremely seriously. We have therefore paused the vast majority of redundancies related to the transformation we announced in February to reduce the uncertainty they are facing at this difficult time.

"We continue to press forward with the other areas of our transformation with the aim of delivering a stronger and leaner business that is better equipped to help our customers prosper in the recovery still to come.”

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