Source: The Canadian Press

HSBC Bank Canada is reporting net income of $152 million in the second quarter, an increase of $38 million, or 33.3%, over the same period in 2009.

For the six months ending June 30, the company says it recorded net income of $236 million, an increase of 18.6%, over the same period in 2009.

Return on average common equity was 17.6% for the quarter and 13.8% for the six-month period, compared with 13.3% and 11.6% respectively for the same periods a year ago.

The bank’s total assets were $71.5 billion as of June 30, up $1 billion from a year ago, and funds under management were $27.9 billion, up 6.4 billion.

The bank says its good results during the first two quarters were somewhat masked by the impact of fair value accounting on its economic hedges, US denominated assets and liabilities and a portion of its debt held at fair value.

This caused the results to bear charges of $25 million and $112 million in the second and first quarters respectively compared to credits of $14 million and $35 million for the same periods in 2009.

“Strong operating results for the second quarter of 2010 reflect the strength of the bank’s core businesses as revenues continued to increase, credit losses decreased and costs remained well controlled,” said HSCBC Bank Canada president and CEO Lindsay Gordon.

“We are benefiting from the recovery of the Canadian economy and our continued support of customers’ personal and business banking needs is resulting in increased demand for our services as conditions improve.”