Banking giant HSBC sees quarterly profit almost double

Banking giant HSBC says its quarterly profit has almost doubled, boosted by rising interest rates around the world.

The London-based firm reported profit before tax of $5.2bn (£4.3bn) for the last three months of 2022, up 92% from the same time a year earlier.

However, pre-tax profit for the year as a whole fell by $1.4bn to $17.5bn, partly due to the cost of selling its retail banking operations in France.

HSBC is also in the process of selling its business in Canada.

The bank said it planned to use the money raised from that sale to make payouts to shareholders once the deal is completed.

“2022 was another good year for HSBC,” chief executive Noel Quinn said. “We are on track to deliver higher returns in 2023,” he added.

In June 2021, the firm agreed to sell its French retail bank, ending its long struggle to offload the business as it focuses on Asia.

HSBC now expects to take a $2.4bn hit to its profits related to that disposal.

In November, HSBC said it had agreed to sell its banking operations in Canada to the Royal Bank of Canada.

The deal, which was valued at 13.5 billion Canadian dollars ($10bn; £8.3bn), is expected to be completed this year.