HSBC profit slumps

Hong Kong: HSBC on Monday reported a 69-percent slump in net profit, joining a number of major banks whose earnings have been slammed by the coronavirus fallout.

HSBC announced earnings of $3.1 billion (2.6 billion euros) compared with almost $10 billion in the first six months of 2019, as spiralling China-US tensions also hurt the British-based but Asia-focused lender.

Alongside HSBC results, top French bank Societe Generale on Monday announced a second-quarter loss of more than one billion euros as the pandemic forced it to set aside more provisions against bad loans. UK banks Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest all last week reported huge financial hits linked to the pandemic´s fallout.

But there have been some bright spots, with French bank BNP Paribas weathering the coronavirus storm in the second quarter with only a small dip in net profits thanks to a surge in investment banking. Credit Suisse meanwhile saw net profit jump almost a quarter in the April-June period, also on investment banking gains.