The report also said pretax profits fell by 6% year on year to £13.7bn but underlying profits, which ignore one-time accounting effects, were up 18%.
On a group level the bank reported a notable increase in residential mortgage lending. In 2012 it:
• Provided £16.4bn in gross new mortgage lending, a 24% increase on 2011 (£13.2bn)
• Approved £19.5bn to UK mortgage borrowers, a 20% increase on 2011 (£16.2bn)
• Approved £5bn to UK first-time buyers, a 32% increase on 2011 (£3.8bn)
• Helped 177,000 borrowers including 40,500 FTBs - approving loans to 111 FTBs per day
• Approved 4 in 5 FTB mortgage applications
• New UK mortgage approvals market share of 13.6%, up from 11.6% in 2011
Stuart Gulliver, group chief executive, said:"HSBC made significant progress in 2012.
“First and foremost, we grew our business. We increased revenues, performed well in most faster-growing markets and enjoyed a record year in Commercial Banking.
“We also agreed a settlement with the US and UK authorities in respect of our past anti-money laundering and sanctions failings.”
HSBC had been fined US$1.9bn for its anti-money laundering and sanctions failings last year.
Gulliver continued: “Based on our current understanding of the capital rules we are extremely well-placed with regard to Basel III compliance, re-establishing our position as one of the best capitalised banks in the world.
“This provides a firm base on which to keep growing the business organically.”
