(Bloomberg) HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe?s biggest bank by market value, said new international accounting rules that take effect next year will have a ?significant monetary impact? on its income statement.

The rules, which include an end to goodwill amortization and changes to derivative valuations, will affect earnings and equity, the London-based bank said in a Regulatory News Service statement. Unlike its two biggest UK competitors, HSBC didn?t provide numbers estimating the change or indicating whether the accounting changes will boost or cut net income.

The UK and other European Union countries are preparing to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards in 2005 in an effort to make accounts more comparable across the region. About 7,000 public companies in the EU will have to prepare their accounts from January 1 using the new procedures. The rules replace the UK?s Generally Accepted Accounting Practices.

?HSBC?s statement looks like a fairly technical rundown of the differences between IFRS and UK GAAP, which if you?re an accountant you probably already know,? said James Leal, an analyst at Teather & Greenwood in London, who rates the stock ?hold?. ?Overall we?re not expecting any great shakes in terms of boosting or damaging earnings.?

HSBC?s statement lists the new accounting standards and says whether each one will have a high, medium or low impact on the bank. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc today said its earnings per share before goodwill amortization may fall as much as 3 percent under the new rules. Barclays Plc said its earnings by the same measure may fall 7 percent.

?We?re not going to restate the numbers until next year,? said Richard Beck, HSBC spokesman. ?With operations spread across 76 different territories it?s a bit more complicated for us.?

HSBC said an end to goodwill amortization will have a ?high? impact on earnings. Most analysts already exclude goodwill from earnings when assessing a company?s performance. All of the other changes will have a ?medium? or ?low? impact, HSBC said.

The charge to income from impairment, or reductions of the value of assets held, may be larger than under existing accounting standards. Changes to rules on derivatives will increase the variability of HSBC?s earnings. HSBC will try to use ?cash flow hedging? to reduce swings in income, which may trigger greater volatility in its equity, the bank said. HSBC?s pension fund deficit will be brought onto its balance sheet, cutting equity. The impact will be ?moderate? it said.