HSBC, sink your jaws into the flab

Top Asia-Pacific bank: A woman takes a selfie photograph next to a statue of a lion in front of the HSBC Holdings Plc headquarters in Hong Kong. HSBC is tied with Citigroup Inc as the top bank in Asia-Pacific for fixed-income, commodities and currency trading. — Bloomberg

T00 big, too bloated, and too unwieldy. HSBC Holdings Plc’s achievement in bringing costs under control in the first quarter shouldn’t be an excuse to stand still.

The bank posted a higher-than-estimated pretax profit of US$6.35bil as revenue growth outpaced the increase in expenses, a phenomenon known in industry jargon as “positive jaws.”