Investing.com - HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA), Europe’s largest bank, reported on Tuesday that its 2018 net profit came in below expectations.
Reported pre-tax profit was $19.89 billion, up 15.9% from a year ago, the bank said in a statement. It was expected to record a 23.8% jump in pre-tax profit to $21.26 billion for the year.
The core capital ratio, a key measure of financial strength, fell to 14% at end-December from 14.5% at the end of 2017, HSBC said in the statement. The fall was mainly due to adverse foreign exchange movements, it noted.
The bank’s annual dividend remained unchanged from the year before at $0.51 per share.
"First of all, from the revenue side. I'm a little bit concerned about capital markets because, as we all know, in last year's fourth-quarter, sentiment and market conditions were not so good. So, capital markets or global markets as it's called in HSBC, the revenue may be under pressure," Kenny Wen, wealth management strategist at Hong Kong-based financial services firm Everbright Sun Hung Kai, told CNBC.
Hong Kong-listed shares in the bank dropped 2.3% by 12:30 AM ET (05:30 GMT) following the release of the results.