HSBC profit suffers 62% drop

HSBC were expected by analysts to post Q4 results today that would take the bank's total profit before tax for 2016 to $13.3 billion. Instead, the figure was $7.1 billion and some 62 percent lower that posted in 2015. The bank’s share price has of course taken a hit, with an initial 4.5 percent decrease. Chief among the reasons for the unexpectedly large fall are a $3.2 billion impairment of goodwill for its European global private banking business and the disposal of operations in Brazil.