HSBC posts pretax quarterly loss of $858 million
UK banking firm HSBC today reported a net pretax loss of $858 million for the quarter ended December compared to a net pretax profit of $1.73 billion in the year-ago period. Revenue in the quarter fell by 18% year-on-year to $11.8 billion. The loss was attributed to lower income from lending and an increase in impairment on bad loans. 