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HSBC beat forecasts on Monday (August 2) with first-half pretax profit more than doubling from last year.

Encouraged by a rebound in its two biggest markets of Hong Kong and Britain, HSBC also reinstated dividend payments.

And released $700 million that had been set aside as bad-loan provisions.

Pretax profit for Europe's biggest bank by assets came in at $10.8 billion.

Revenue though fell 4% due to a low interest rate environment for the bank, which makes bulk of its sales in Asia.

The lender says growth is set to come from boosting assets under management in its wealth business.

As well as shifting more of its investment banking resources from Europe and the U.S. to Asia.

The bank also told Reuters it did not expect any decline in investment appetite for China.

That's even after regulatory crackdowns which have upended the country's tech and property sectors, worrying some investors.

Despite the strong earnings, HSBC has failed to benefit from a frenzy in stock listings and tech company fundraisings.

It decided not to join the current boom in listings by special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs.

HSBC said given the brighter outlook globally as economies recover faster than expected, it expects credit losses to be below original forecasts.

The bank's London-listed shares rose around 1.5 percent from the open.