HSBC said it recorded a 23 per cent increase in its core profit in Australia and New Zealand during calendar 2005. Financial statements for HSBC, published overnight, show the British-based bank earned a pre-tax profit in the region of US$111 million in the year to December 2005, up from a profit of US$84 million in 2004.The result included a gain of US$8 million from the sale of the group's asset management operations in Australia to Challenger Financial Services, which brings the core earnings back to US$103 million for the full year.HSBC earned the majority of its local earnings during the first half of the year, at US$63 million.The limited balance sheet data in the HSBC financial statements show negligible growth in assets during the year, with total assets in Australia and New Zealand steady at US$13 billion, and mortgages also steady at US$5.9 billion.