November 10, 2009

HSBC Holdings PLC said Tuesday its third-quarter underlying pretax profit was "significantly ahead" of a year earlier, helped by lower loan provisions and continued strong performance in its corporate and investment-banking division.Chief Executive Michael Geoghegan said economic conditions are still challenging and that public trust in banks "has been seriously compromised," but that the bank has kept its strong deposit base and is still attracting new customers.

He said the bank needs more evidence to be certain the decline in U.S. loan-impairment charges -- which totaled $3 billion in the third quarter -- will continue, but that the signals continue to be positive.Charges on the U.S. consumer finance portfolio had been $3.4 billion in the second quarter and $3.9 billion in the first.