HSBC Commits to Improve Standards

HSBC Australia head Paulo Maia has issued a statement saying the company is committed to lift its standards.

According to Maia, the company would introduce global governance standards to its Australia operations.

The announcement came after a series of controversies where the bank is involved with money-laundering scandals that spanned two continents.

HSBC has issued an apology over its system breakdowns that prevented the company to stop money-laundering activities of drug barons and terrorists. The United States has slapped HSBC with close to US$700 million in fines.

Another US$1.3 billion was earmarked for the mis-selling of financial products in the United Kingdom.

Despite some controversies, HSBC posted an 11-percent rise in its pre-tax half profit. The increase was partly due to an increasing market share in Asia.

HSBC Australia, however, posted a June-half profit of about $87 million. This is 34 percent lower compared to last year’s data.  Its commercial banking side also posted decline with a $33 million loss because of bad-debt hit.

There’s still good news for the Australian operations. Its profit from the retail business jumped 43 percent to hit $50 million and while institutional lending also grew 13 percent to reach $77 million.

Maia, however, was quick to dissipate concerns that more Aussies are having bad debts. He explained that it happens occasionally in banking but there is nothing to worry about. Maia also said that the economy remains strong.