HSBC Pretax Profits 'Significantly Ahead'

Updated from 3:45 a.m. EST

LONDON (TheStreet) -- HSBC(HBC Quote), Europe's biggest bank by market value, said pretax profits in the third quarter were "significantly ahead" of year-earlier results as loan impairments declined.

HSBC said on a reported basis that its third-quarter performance was below that of a year earlier, "largely due to fair value movements on our own debt caused by tightening credit spreads."

HSBC CEO Michael Geoghegan said loan impairments had fallen to their lowest quarterly level for more than year, driven by stabilized credit performances in the United States.

"Thanks to a highly diversified business model, a clear and unchanged strategy and a focus on banking fundamentals, HSBC continues to deliver broadly based profits at this pivotal stage of the business cycle," said Geoghegan, in a statement Tuesday.

The bank said its global banking and markets division is having a "record year" and that commercial banking was "solidly profitable in all regions" over the first nine months of the year.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, HSBC reported a $1.13 billion third-quarter net loss for its subsidiary HSBC Finance, wider than the $271 million loss a year earlier.

Net interest income at HSBC Finance of $1.46 billion was reduced to a loss of $709 million after provisions for credit losses.

Shares of HSBC were 4% higher in London as of 4:20 a.m. EST.

-- Reported by Joseph Woelfel in New York .

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