HSBC adds name to banks in currency investigation The year-on-year increase in profits was largely the result of HSBC avoiding the record fines that it was hit with last year in the wake of an investigation that uncovered evidence the bank had been involved in money-laundering for drug gangs and other criminal organisations. Revenues for the quarter were also up at $15.1bn and for the first nine months of the year the bank reported revenues of $49.5bn and pre-tax profits of $18.2bn compared to $13.5bn for the same period in 2012. HSBC's performance has been helped by a group-wide cost cutting programme. The bank said it had made an additional $400m of savings in the quarter, taking its total annualised cost savings since the programme began in 2011 to $4.5bn. Stuart Gulliver, chief executive of HSBC, said the bank's results were "stable," though he warned of continuing "regulatory uncertainty." Mr Gulliver added that he was confident the global economic outlook was improving. Though HSBC avoided the large fines that hit its performance last year, the bank continued to take new provisions for legacy mis-selling scandals. The bank said it had put aside an additional $147m against further payment protection insurance compensation and $132m for interest rate hedging products mis-selling.