British banking group HSBC has posted pre-tax profit of $7.1bn for the year ended 31 December 2016, a slump of 62.3% compared to $18.8bn a year ago.
The bank said that the annual profit reflected a $3.2bn impairment of goodwill in its global private banking business in Europe and the impact of its sale of Brazil operations.
The bank’s adjusted pretax profit for the period was $19.3bn, down 1.2% from $19.5bn in the prior year.
Reported revenue for the period was $47.9bn, a fall of 20% from $59.8bn in the previous year. Adjusted revenue dipped 2% to $50.2bn from $51.4bn a year earlier.
The banking group’s reported operating expenses were broadly unchanged at $39.8bn. Adjusted operating expenses dropped 4% year-on-year to $30.5bn.
The bank’s common equity tier 1 ratio at the end of December 2016 stood at 13.6%.
HSBC's retail banking and wealth management arm reported adjusted pre-tax profit of $5.3bn for the year ended 31 December 2016, down 6% from $5.6bn in 2015.
Adjusted pre-tax profit at the bank's global private banking unit was $289m, a decline of 25% from $387m in the year ago period.
HSBC group CEO Stuart Gulliver said: “2016 was a good year in which we delivered a solid performance from all our global businesses, made better-than-anticipated progress in reducing our cost base, and delivered a total return to shareholders of 36%. We are investing over $2bn in digital transformation initiatives to improve our offer to customers, and are instigating a further $1bn buy-back programme reflecting the strength and flexibility of our balance sheet.”
