SINGAPORE/LONDON (Reuters) -HSBC Holdings reported a better-than-expected 92% surge in quarterly profit on Tuesday as rising interest rates swelled its net interest income, encouraging Europe’s largest bank to reiterate it could meet a key performance target for this year.
The bank said it intended to pay a special dividend of $0.21 per share, as a priority use of the proceeds from the $10 billion sale of its Canada business, once that disposal is complete late this year.
The London-headquartered lender reported pretax earnings of $5.2 billion for the fourth quarter, up from $2.7 billion a year earlier and ahead of the $4.96 billion average estimate of analysts compiled by the bank.
“With the delivery of higher returns, we will have increased distribution capacity, and we will also consider a special dividend once the sale of HSBC Canada is completed,” Group Chief Executive Noel Quinn said in a statement.
(Reporting by Anshuman Daga and Lawrence White; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
