HSBC announced a rapid growth in revenue in 2021, BBC reported. In the first quarter the banking conglomerate saw profits surge by 79% percent, compared to the same period of last year. HSBC reported pre-tax profit of $5.78bn, up from $3.21bn a year ago. Europe’s biggest bank by assets announced new improved lending conditions for customers. In the pandemic 2020 HSBC posted a 34% drop in profits partly due to Covid-19 related economic slowdown.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush - or caution brings safety - has become a slogan of bank customers during the pandemic. Before Covid-19 hit, the global economy was on the rise - companies were not hesitant to take out loans, investing in new business ventures and creating jobs, individuals were taking out mortgages as well as consumer loans to finance renovation works, vacations or car purchases. In the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, however, the world stood still.

US financial giant Citigroup announced it was restructuring operations and cutting consumer banking activities of its banking arm Citibank in 13 markets in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, BBC reported. The operations in those markets will be directed to four financial hubs in a move to improve market performance and boost returns. However Citibank confirmed it would continue to offer products and services to big clients and institutions.

The post-pandemic economic recovery allowed Bank of America to spur its credit activities and post a profit of 8.1 billion dollars for the first quarter of 2021, Reuters reported. The positive financial results came as the bank unfolded funds that had been kept stashed for emergency operations as the pandemic was seen deteriorating economy. But with those fears behind its back, Bank of America was allowed it to release billions from its loan-loss reserves.

EU banks managed to decrease the level of non-performing loans in their portfolios, Reuters reported. The level of bad loans was reduced to a record low of 2.63%, ECB figures showed. The latest slump in bad credits was registered in the last quarter of 2020. This is the lowest level of bad credits since the start of supervision in 2015, despite a deep and scarring Covid-19 related recession that will likely weigh down on the EU economy for the next several years.

The Bank of England called on lenders on Friday to provide enough credit to companies to see them through the coronavirus crisis as the government closes its emergency lending guarantee schemes.

The biggest four UK banks acknowledged they had to deal with rapidly increasing volume of deposits that far exceeded newly administered loans, Reuters reported. Full year reports by HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest have shown that new deposits top the new loans by nearly three times.

UK Barclays reported a profit before tax for 2020 of 3.1 billion pounds. That stands for a 30% fall in profits for 2020, down from 4.3bn pounds in 2019. Barclays noted it was forced to set aside some 4.8bn pounds to cover loans unlikely to be paid back amid the economic fallout of Covid-19 pandemic, BBC reported.

The major British bank HSBC saw its shares edge by 50 percent since September as it struggled on European and Asian markets. Investors eye the bank as very lucrative option in the middle of pandemic chaos and thus pour fresh capital in HSBC shares. In October, HSBC recorded better-than-expected third quarter results on cost savings.

Do you remember anything about credit ratings? We mean the funny looking numbers and letters that used to make credit cheaper or expensive. Well, we should all forget about that era of financial discipline. With the coronavirus death toll surging to record highs, countries around the globe spurred spending, boosting debt numbers to record levels. No one really cares about ratings anymore.