HSBC’s Cost-Cutting Measures Fall Short in 2013 (Bloomberg)
Europe’s largest bank, HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBC), published its 2013 full-year earnings and despite an aggressive cost-cutting campaign, the bank still missed analysts’ estimates. HSBC disclosed that pre-tax profit for the year rose 9 percent over 2012 to $22.6 billion, which was well short of the $24.6 billion median estimate from 30 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. With the company’s most lucrative offices located in Asia, it has been seeking to optimize service to the region by closing or selling 63 non-performing offices. Yet, that strong effort hasn’t been enough to fuel profits to where market analysts think they should be. And because of that, shares have flagged on the news, down more than 3.36 percent on the London market so far today.
