HSBC’s Falling Profit Hits Shares With Bank Mired in Tax Scandal
HSBC 2014 Profit Plummets 43% From Previous Year
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HSBC Holdings Plc, struggling to contain a scandal over tax evasion at its private bank, reported lower-than-predicted fourth-quarter profit as costs and conduct provisions rose. The shares slumped the most since 2011.
Pretax profit dropped 56 percent to $1.7 billion from the year-earlier period, London-based HSBC said in a statement on Monday. That missed the $3.7 billion average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Full-year profit fell 17 percent to $18.7 billion, worse than analysts forecast.