LONDON, July 30: Global banking giant HSBC Holdings on Monday revealed a massive jump in bad debts, mainly due to a weak US housing sector, that overshadowed record high profits during the first half of 2007.

After the release of the mixed interim results, HSBC said the company was willing to make Asian acquisitions to boost growth -- but ruled out joining the European takeover battle for Dutch bank ABN Amro.

“We will not shy away from investment opportunities in the Asian region,” chief executive Michael Geoghegan said during a presentation.

Later, HSBC chairman Stephen Green added that the bank was “not interested” in ABN Amro, the Dutch group being pursued by Barclays and a consortium led by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

HSBC, Britain’s biggest bank, said on Monday that pre-tax profits rose by 13.0 per cent to a record $14.159 billion during the six months to June 30, 2007, compared with the same period a year earlier.

That comfortably beat analysts’ consensus forecast of pre-tax profit totalling $12.717 billion.

HSBC benefited as a result of a $1 billion gain from the dilution of stakes in its mainland China associates. Excluding the exceptional earnings, pre-tax profit rose by 5.0 per cent.

The bank was also helped by an “unusually low” effective tax rate during the first half. HSBC saw pre-tax profits rise in Europe and Latin America, but fall in the United States.

“The results were driven by excellent performances across Asia, and in Corporate, Investment Banking and Markets, and Commercial Banking, which offset the impact of higher consumer finance impairment charges in the US and a challenging environment for our personal business in Europe,” Green added in the earnings statement.—AFP