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HSBC Holdings PLC's pre-tax profits for the first half of 2013 rose 10.5 percent, boosted in part by a reduction in charges related to bad loans in the United States.
The London parent of HSBC Bank USA N.A. reported profit before tax of $14.1 billion for the first half of the year, up from $12.7 billion during the same time frame in 2012. Profit attributable to ordinary shareholders totaled $10.3 billion, up from $8.4 billion a year ago, the bank said.
HSBC Bank USA N.A. is a major commercial lender in Western New York. Last year, it sold its entire Upstate New York retail network to First Niagara Financial Group Inc. in a deal valued at $900 million.
Locally, HSBC is renovating two buildings -- the HSBC Atrium, which it owns, and a leased facility in Depew -- in order to make room for the employees moving out of One HSBC Center at the foot of Buffalo's Main Street. The bank's lease at the tower ends Oct. 31.
Half of the tower-based employees will move to the Atrium and half will move to Depew. In total, the bank employs about 3,000 in Western New York.
Group Chairman Douglas Flint called the parent bank's financial performance "solid" for the first half of the year. He said the results "confirm the value" of the bank's ongoing cost-cutting strategy.
The local retail network was just one of several business lines that HSBC has sold in recent years. It has unloaded its card and retail services unit, a non-real-estate-loan portfolio and 52 other "non-strategic businesses" since early 2011.
In December, the global financial company announced it had reached an agreement with U.S. authorities to pay a record $1.9 billion fine in order to dismiss money-laundering charges. U.S. government officials accused the bank of permitting large sums of money from Mexican drug-trade operations to move through accounts in the U.S.
Allissa Kline covers financial services, accounting and trade
