HSBC <0005.HK> scaled back some of its financial targets on Monday as Europe's biggest bank posted a surge in annual profits.

HSBC said pre-tax profits for the year ending December 31 more than doubled from 2009 to $19 billion. According to analysts polled by Reuters Estimates, the average pre-tax profit forecast stood at around $20 billion.

HSBC said it had made a good start to the year but the company cut its long-term return on equity (ROE) target to 12-15 percent from a previous 15-19 percent target.

HSBC shares, which had been trading up 2 percent before the results, fell back and were down 2.4 percent by 0827 GMT.

(Reporting by Steve Slater and Sudip Kar-Gupta)

(Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

HSBC