People walk past a logo of HSBC headquarters in Hong Kong Monday, July 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
July 30, 2012 - 5:28 AM
LONDON - HSBC PLC is to take a $700 million charge to cover the cost of U.S. fines arising from its failure to stamp out money-laundering at the bank.
The provision was announced as the bank reported an 11 per cent gain in pretax profit in the first half of the year, boosted by $4.3 billion in gains from asset sales.
For the six months ending June 30, the bank said Monday that pretax profit was $12.7 billion, up from $11.5 billion a year earlier.
Operating income was up 3 per cent to $43.7 billion while taxes paid more than doubled from $1.7 billion to $3.6 billion.
First-half earnings were also hit by provisions of $1.3 billion for compensating U.K. customers for payment protection insurance.
HSBC shares were down 0.1 per cent at 530.5 pence.
News from © The Associated Press, 2012