HSBC’s profits declined 14 per cent in the third quarter as Europe’s largest lender took a hit from a provision for a lawsuit related to Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
Pre-tax profits fell year on year to $7.3bn in the three months to September 30, largely because of a $1.1bn provision that HSBC set aside for a lawsuit brought by investors who lost money in Madoff’s Ponzi scheme after a Luxembourg court denied the bank’s appeal.
Operating expenses — which include one-off provisions such as $300mn for a French probe into circumvention of taxes on dividends, as well as severance costs linked to chief executive Georges Elhedery’s continuing restructuring plan — climbed 24 per cent to $10.1bn.