LONDON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - HSBC could be forced to take $600
million in additional provisions against loan losses if the
Coronavirus outbreak persists into the second half of this year,
Chief Financial Officer Ewan Stevenson said on Tuesday.
He said HSBC has modelled several scenarios for the impact
of the virus on its business, and in the more extreme of those
in which it carries on, the lender would have to assume bad
loans rising to that amount.
"There will be revenue impacts which will become
progressively more acute if the coronavirus was to continue
beyond the next month to six weeks," Stevenson told analysts on
a conference call.
(Reporting By Lawrence White; editing by David Evans)