HSBC, the UK's biggest bank, saw profits tumble by 65 per cent over the first six months of the year.

Profits for the first half of 2020 fell to $4.3billion - down from $12.4billion a year - with the cost of covering bad loans blamed for the loss.

The London-based bank, which makes more than half of its profits from troubled Hong Kong, has set aside $8-13billion to cover people and businesses defaulting on repayments due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Payment holidays during the pandemic have provided customers with more than $27billion of relief while low interest rates have also squeezed profits.

The bank, which has also become embroiled in political turmoil in Hong Kong, announced in June it was pushing ahead with a plan to cut 35,000 jobs from its global workforce of 235,000.

Originally announced in February with the aim of shrinking operations in Europe and the US, the plan had been put on hold due to the pandemic.

Group chief executive Noel Quinn said: "Our operating environment has changed significantly since the start of the year.

"We will therefore look at what additional actions we need to take in light of the new economic environment to make HSBC a stronger and more sustainable business."

HSBC becomes the fourth of the UK's major banks in a week to report figures hit by coronavirus.

NatWest Group reported a £770million loss for the first six months having putting aside almost £2.9billion to guard against defaulting on loans - a figure it expects that to rise to between £3.5billion and £4.5billion by the end of the year.

Lloyds increased its provision for bad loans by £2.4billion to £3.8billion while Barclays revealed it had set aside £1.6billion in the second quarter, taking its total to £3.7billion for the first six months of the year.