Hong Kong / AFP HSBC said on Wednesday net profit plunged in April-June and that the bank was heading into “a period of heightened uncertainty” after Britain voted to leave the European Union. Profit after tax sank 40 percent on-year to $2.61 billion, the firm said in a statement, but assured it had weathered the Brexit storm “securely”. The firm …

  Paris / AFP French bank Societe Generale said on Wednesday its second-quarter earnings rose 8.1 percent from a year earlier, bolstered by the sale of its shares in Visa Europe. The bank reported a 1.5 billion euro ($1.7 billion) net profit for the period, higher than the 1.4 billion euros predicted by economists in a survey by FactSet. Selling its …

  London / AFP The Bank of England (BoE) is expected to slash interest rates to a record-low 0.25 percent this week and could pump more stimulus into the economy as it battles the fallout from Britain’s vote to leave the EU, economists say. The announcement, due Thursday after the British central bank’s latest monetary policy meeting, would take rates to their …