Global banking giant HSBC’s Australian unit says it intends to increase its corporate lending.

HSBC says it will leverage its massive international balance sheet in order to capture market share from its big four Australian rivals.

HSBC’s Australian unit posted a first half 2010 pre-tax profit of $152 million, a gain of 28 per cent from the previous year driven largely by growth in its commercial banking business.

The performance in Australia was replicated by HSBC globally, which surprised global financial markets with an extremely strong set of results.

HSBC globally doubled its first-half net profit to $7.4 billion.

HSBC’s results came in much stronger than expected, as the global banking giant felt the impact of a sharp reduction in credit impairment charges, and an increase in the value of its own debt.

The Australian unit of the lender saw loan growth of 15 per cent, and experienced a 26 per cent leap in retail deposits. HSBC Australia however concentrates its domestic operations in the business and corporate lending space.

HSBC’s commercial lending business generated a $47 million in the first half, up from $17 million in the previous year.

HSBC’s personal financial services, which includes retail banking saw 53 per cent growth in pre-tax profit which climbed to $26 million, whilst its global banking and markets business in Australia saw a decline in profit from $85 million to $76 million.

Paulo Maia, chief executive of the lenders Australian business, says that HSBC would leverage its large global balance sheet in order to underwrite more corporate lending, and that it has steadily been capturing market share at the expense of its big four rivals.

“The commercial bank has always been the jewel in the crown for HSBC across most of our markets,” he said. “The market in Australia is dominated by the local players and we have performed very well in the market.”