Global bank HSBC says 2004 profit have risen 37 per cent, towards the low end of market expectations, as revenue rose and bad debts were muted.

Pretax profit for the year ended December 31 rose to $17.61 billion from $12.82 billion a year earlier, HSBC, the world's second-biggest bank by market value, said in a statement yesterday.

Analysts had forecast pretax profit of about $17.83 billion, according to a Reuters poll of 10 analysts with a range of $17.20 billion to $18.92 billion.

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