HSBC has said it will pay an interim dividend to shareholders after revealing that profits more than doubled for the latest half-year.
The banking giant told investors on Monday that pre-tax profits soared to $10.8 billion (£7.8 billion) for the six months to June, compared with $4.3 billion (£3.1 billion) for the same period in 2020.
The profit figure came in significantly ahead of analysts' expectations, with experts predicting around $9.4 billion (£6.8 billion) in profit.
HSBC said it was buoyed by profit growth across all regions, highlighting growth in Asia and strong profits in its UK bank.
Meanwhile, company revenues were down 4.5 per cent to $25.5 billion (£18.4 billion) compared with the same period last year.
It said this was driven by lower interest rates and reduced sales through its markets and security services operation.
The bank announced that it would hand shareholders an interim dividend of 0.07 dollars (5p) per ordinary share after payouts were put on hold during the pandemic.
Group chief executive Noel Quinn said: "These are good results that reflect the return of growth in our main markets and marked progress in the execution of our strategy.
"I'm pleased with the momentum generated around our growth and transformation plans, with good delivery against all four pillars of our strategy.
"In particular, we have taken firm steps to define the future of our US and continental Europe businesses, and further enhanced our global wealth capabilities.
"We are focused on executing the growth and transformation plans we announced in February."
