HSBC bad loans more than double in Middle East

Bad loans at HSBC’s Middle-Eastern arm more than doubled to US$921 million (Dh3.38bn) in the 12 months to June, the British banking giant reported on Monday.

The increase mirrors a global trend in which banks are writing off losses in the financial crisis and setting aside cash to provide for further defaults.

Local banks have so far reported about $1.3bn in provisioning for bad loans for the first half of the year. Collectively, those banks have seen second-quarter profits decline by almost 27 per cent compared with a year before.

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