HSBC profits half year - £6.7 billion

HSBC reports slightly lower profits at £6.7 billion before tax for the half year, while surrounded by bad publicity from various mal practices.

They have been found guilty in the US of money laundering, mainly drug money from Mexican cartels but also potentially terrorist funds in other countries. They are involved in the Libor Rate fixing and have had to set aside a small fortune for PPI mis-selling and they still found time to get a little banking done.

The bank intends to put in place machinery for making sure that these transgressions cannot occur again which is pretty much what you would expect to hear in the circimstances. 

Used to be that the criminals were outside the banks trying to get in but that seems to have changed over the years.