HSBC posted on Monday a 10 per cent rise in first-half profits, to 14.1 billion dollars, from a year earlier, citing lower bad debts and costs.

Shares in the bank fell more than 4 per cent despite the higher profits, which were less than the 14.5 billion dollars predicted by analysts.

Revenues fell 7 per cent to 34.4 billion dollars, linked mainly to lower income in North and Latin America.

The bank has been implementing a cost-cutting programme under chief executive Stuart Gulliver, including selling or closing 54 businesses since he was appointed in 2011 and shedding more than 40,000 jobs.

The programme envisages reducing staff numbers to about 254,000 by 2016.

First half underlying operating costs were down 8 per cent to 18.3 billion dollars compared with 2012.

'Both reported and underlying profit before tax increased in the first half. These results demonstrate that we have continued to make progress on delivering our strategy,' Mr. Gulliver said.