Introduction: HSBC profits hit by fraud-related credit loss in UK Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. The bank reporting season rolls on, with HSBC revealing a drop in profits in the last quarter – partly due to a fraud-related charge in the UK. HSBC reported it had suffered a $400m “ fraud-related, secondary, securitisation exposure” in the UK, in its Corporate and Institutional Banking (‘CIB‘) business. This $400m charge is understood to involve loans made to a private equity firm, which was then exposed to private credit-related loans – at a time when concern about the opaque private credit industry is growing. The $400m charge pushed up HSBC’s estimated credit loss for the first quarter of this year, to $1.3bn. HSBC also set aside $300m to reflect “heightened uncertainty” and a deterioration in the economic outlook due to the conflict in the Middle East.…