HSBC profit more than doubles, better than expected

HONG KONG/LONDON (Reuters) -HSBC Holdings said on Monday first-half pretax profit more than doubled, beating expectations as the bank benefited from an economic rebound in Hong Kong and Britain.

Pretax profit for Europe's biggest bank by assets came in at $10.8 billion versus $4.32 billion in the same period a year earlier and was higher than the $9.45 billion average of 15 analysts' estimates compiled by the bank.

HSBC said it would pay a dividend of seven cents a share after the Bank of England scrapped payout curbs last month.

It also said that given the brighter outlook globally as economies recover better than expected from the pandemic, it now expects credit losses to be below its medium-term forecast of 0.3-0.4% of its loans.

(Reporting by Alun John in Hong Kong and Lawrence White in London; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)