HSBC says results better than previous year

Europe’s biggest bank, HSBC Holdings , said on Friday its first-quarter results were better than those achieved in the same period last year.

The U.S., Hong Kong and the UK had all performed well and the bank’s overall credit experience remains good, John Bond, HSBC <0005.HK> executive chairman, said at the bank’s annual shareholder meeting.

Bond retires after the AGM and will be replaced by Stephen Green, the bank’s CEO since June 2003.

“When we reported our results for 2005 in early March we said that, although we remain mindful of the imbalances in the world economy, the outlook for 2006 was encouraging. So far, this has proved to be the case,” Bond said in a statement.

“We have seen broadly based economic growth. The U.S. economy has been strong and it is now clear that the spike in bankruptcy filings experienced in the final quarter of last year was a result of changes in bankruptcy laws rather than economic deterioration,” he added.