HONG KONG - HSBC Holdings said on Monday it had set aside $2 billion against fines, settlements and other expenses related to money-laundering accusations in the United States and claims of selling inappropriate financial products in Britain, but the big bank had made no provision for the current global investigations into the rigging of key interest rates.
The news comes as HSBC announced a 9 percent drop in net income, to $8.4 billion, in the first half of the year compared to the similar period in 2011. HSBC's operating income rose slightly, to $43.6 billion, over the same period.
HSBC has been bruised by a series of legal issues in recent months.
On Monday, the British bank's chief executive, Stuart Gulliver, said that the bank had made a $700 million provision against potential penalties that may result from ongoing U.S. regulatory and law enforcement investigations into money laundering.
That figure represents ‘‘a best estimate based on th e facts that we currently know,'' Mr. Gulliver told reporters in a conference call. ‘‘There is tremendous uncertainty around it and the number could be significantly higher.''
HSBC's top compliance executive announced his departure earlier this month during testimony at a hearing by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which had issued a report accusing HSBC of serving as a conduit for money flowing illegally into the United States from Mexican drug traffickers and Middle Eastern banks with ties to terrorists.
An outside audit identified nearly 25,000 transactions related to Iran involving more than $19 billion, which were handled by HSBC's U.S. unit but were not properly disclosed to U.S. regulators. Separately, the British bank said last week that its Mexican unit was fined 379 million Mexican pesos, or US$27.5 million, by the national banking and securities regulator for failing to comply with anti-money laundering and other complianc e protocols.
‘‘I very much regret HSBC's past failures and I apologize for them. Our controls should have been stronger and more effective,'' Mr. Gulliver said Monday. ‘‘We are committed to doing whatever it takes to make sure the organization is able to detect and prevent unacceptable behavior.''
HSBC on Monday also disclosed a further $1.3 billion provision toward a settlement over selling payment protection plans for credit card loans, home mortgages and other consumer borrowings. HSHSBC had ceased selling by 2008.
Despite setting aside $2 billion related to potential claims and settlements in the U.S. and Britian, HSBC reported healthy growth during the three months through June 30 after its pretax profit rose 28.1 percent to $8.42 billion compared to same period a year earlier
Asia continued to be an ‘‘absolute powerhouse'' for the bank's growth, accounting for half of pretax profit in the second quarter. Pretax earnings from Hong Kon g and the rest of Asia rose 16 percent in the second quarter to $4.2 billion.
Regarding the ongoing investigations by regulators around the world into potential rigging of the London interbank offered rate, as well as other related benchmark interest rates, HSBC said it had made no provision for potential fines or regulatory settlements.
In June, rival British lender Barclays agreed to pay $450 million to settle accusations by American and British authorities that it had manipulated the Libor rates. At least 10 other banks are currently under scrutiny, including HSBC, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup.
‘‘It's far too soon to make any estimate on Libor or Euribor,'' Mr. Gulliver said. ‘‘We are providing information to various regulators simply because we are a panel bank, and therefore we don't have any information that gives us any ability to make a provision for future costs that may result from anything do with Euribor or Libor.''
One of Mr. Gull iver's biggest priorities since taking over as the bank's chief executive in January of last year is an ongoing campaign to cut costs, sell less profitable businesses and focus new investment on faster growing economies of Asia.
Since the start of 2011, HSBC announced more than 36 deals to reduce or dispose of its stakes in a wide range of businesses around the world. Most recently, that includes an agreement announced last week to dispose of its 44 percent share in Global Payments Asia-Pacific, a card processing joint venture, for $242 million.
