Global bank HSBC said today 2004 profit rose 37 per cent toward the low end of market expectations as revenue rose and bad debts were muted.
Pretax profit for the year ended December 31st rose to $17.61 billion (€13.3 billion) from $12.82 billion (€9.8 billion) a year earlier, the world's second-biggest bank by market value said in a statement.
Analysts had forecast pretax profit of about $17.83 billion.
