DHAKA: Lower costs from regulatory fines have contributed to higher profits for HSBC.

Pre-tax profit at Europe’s biggest lender jumped 32% from a year ago in the third quarter, beating analysts’ expectations.

Its profit was $6.1bn, up from $4.6bn in the same period a year earlier and above forecasts of $5.2bn.

The bank announced thousands of job cuts in June, along with asset sales, as part of cost-cutting measures to improve returns to shareholders.

‘The fines going away, lower costs – that’s the banking story of the moment,’ Peter Hahn from Cass Business School told BBC News.

HSBC has been speeding up the sale of loss-making businesses and sold its operations in Brazil in August.

‘Our cost-reduction measures are beginning to have an impact on our cost base,’ chief executive Stuart Gulliver said in the bank’s results release on Monday.

‘There is more to achieve on costs and we expect the measures we have already taken to have a further impact in the fourth quarter.’

BDST: 2050 HRS, Nov 02, 2015
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