The pre-tax profit of HSBC increased 30 per cent, to US$258 million, in the year to December 2010, the annual report for the banking group published overnight shows.A three-fold rise in the profit of the commercial banking arm, to $96 million (in part due to write-backs), and a doubling in the profit from retail banking, to $59 million, offset a decline in earnings from the markets' business.As reported in a separate article today, HSBC is growing its assets quickly in retail mortgages. Business loans are also rising, and are up around 13 per cent according to APRA data.HSBC plans to publish more details on the earnings for its Australian business today.