Volatile markets made for a difficult first half of the year for HSBC, the firm said in its latest earnings release.

Hong Kong/London-listed HSBC today reported profit before tax in the first six months of this year of $9.714 billion, falling almost 29 per cent year-on-year, “in the face of considerable uncertainty”, the bank said.

The bank said its adjusted revenue of $27.868 billion, a fall of 4 per cent year-on-year, contrasted with a strong first half of last year.

Global private banking made a pre-tax loss of $557 million in the six months to June 30, contrasting with a profit of $180 million last year. On an adjusted basis, however, global private banking made a pre-tax profit of $246 million, down by 23 per cent on a year earlier, according to a presentation to analysts accompanying the results. In a detail, the bank said it recorded goodwill impairments to the GBP of $800 million in the H1, 2016 period. Explaining impairments, HSBC said its discount rates used for global private banking – Europe and Global Banking and Markets – Europe include a 100bps uplift to reflect the increased risk in European markets following the UK’s referendum on membership of the EU.

Global private banking attracted $5 billion of net new money in the first half, more than half of which came through greater collaboration with the bank's other global businesses, HSBC said.

Asia’s importance to HSBC’s results has increased. Two-thirds of HSBC’s adjusted profit before tax, or $7.2 billion, came from Asia in the first half of 2016. This was up from 62 per cent in the same period last year. Assets under management in Asia rose 7 per cent.

The bank has been restructuring its business lines, cutting booking centers and getting out of certain countries as part of a greater focus on regions such as Asia, seen as offering more potential. It is getting out of Turkey and Brazil, for example. Referring to Brazil specifically today, HSBC said that after the sale of its Brazil business, it wants to buy back shares to the tune of up to $2.5 billion to cut any outstanding ordinary shares and has received regulatory clearance in the UK to do this; the buyback is expected to be complete by the end of this year.

“The first half of 2016 was characterized by spikes of uncertainty which greatly impacted business and market confidence. This was reflected in lower volumes of customer activity and higher levels of market volatility,” Douglas Flint, HSBC chairman, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, last week the bank named Joe Abruzzo as head of business for North America, succeeding Patrick Campion, who joined Deutsche Bank Wealth Management in May (see more on that story here).