HSBC's loan growth edged up by a tad 1.7%

Find out what drove this rise.

According to Maybank Kim Eng, excluding a positive exchange rate impact, HSBC’s 3Q13 loan growth was 1.7%  QoQ, mainly driven by personal loans in the UK, commercial loans in HK and the US and a rise in reverse repo balances. 

Here's more from Maybank Kim Eng:

We raise our 2014 loan balance estimates by 1%. Net interest margin (NIM) widened from 2.17% in 1H13 to 2.22% in 3Q13, due to better lending spreads in the UK and Latin America.

Management expects QE tapering to benefit NIMs; thus we raise our 2014 NIM forecast from 2.0% to 2.07%.

Net operating income at the Global Banking and Markets (GBM) division fell 13% QoQ in 3Q13, mainly on declines in forex and principal investment income as well as valuation losses on derivatives. We cut our 2014 estimates of non-interest income (excluding net fees) by 6.3%.