HSBC Holdings said its first-half profit climbed a better than expected 10 percent, driven by a strong performance in Hong Kong that comes as the bank considers moving its headquarters to the Asian financial hub.
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Those same sources said Bradesco, which has not confirmed or denied the news report, has made a binding 12 billion reais ($3.8 billion) offer for the unit.
Also Monday, HSBC announced it is selling its business in Brazil to Banco Bradesco SA for $5.2 billion amid a sweeping effort to streamline global operations.
Asia provided 69 percent of the bank’s reported profit, or $9.4 billion.
In June, HSBC said that it planned to sell its operations in Turkey and Brazil, and at the same time, intended to accelerate investments in Asia.
The bank’s improved profits were driven by an investing frenzy in Hong Kong among individual customers amid China’s soaring markets earlier in the year, the bank said.
“Work is proceeding on all of our actions, in particular those aimed at reducing risk-weighted assets, cutting costs and turning around or disposing of underperforming parts of the business”, Gulliver said in the statement. The region accounted for about 75 per cent of the bank’s 2014 profit, even though only one-third of its staff are in the region.
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The stock outperformed the benchmark Hang Seng index, which is down over 1%.
