HSBC profits up 10% despite $17.2bn credit loss

In its final 2007 results released this today, the banking giant’s profit climbed to $24.2bn – with its dividend also jumping in line with peers, up 11.1% to $0.90 per share. HSBC group chairman Stephen Green says the rapid expansion in emerging markets has more than offset the “exceptionally weak performance” of its US business – with the firm writing off $11bn against US exposure. “2007 was a year when large parts of the international financial system came under extraordinary strain,” he says. “Consistent with our strategy of focusing on emerging markets where we are the world's lea...