HSBC Holdings reported first-half pretax profit of $19.5 billion on Tuesday, a 23% increase from a year earlier, as revenue growth in lending and wealth management drove earnings past analyst estimates.
The bank posted pretax profit of $19.5 billion and lifted its net interest income guidance for the full year
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HSBC Holdings reported first-half pretax profit of $19.5 billion on Tuesday, a 23% increase from a year earlier, as revenue growth in lending and wealth management drove earnings past analyst estimates.
Analysts had penciled in $18.9 billion, making the result a beat, according to Reuters. Profit after tax came in at $15.3 billion, up $2.9 billion from the first half of 2025. Revenue rose 11% to $37.7 billion.
Alongside the results, the bank announced it would restart share buybacks with a program capped at $1 billion, targeted for completion ahead of its third-quarter reporting date. The pause stretched across three quarters, tracing back to an October announcement that HSBC would acquire full ownership of Hang Seng Bank; that transaction closed in January at a price of nearly $14 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"We delivered strong returns to our shareholders," Chief Executive Georges Elhedery said in a statement. "Our 18.2% annualised RoTE reflects a strong performance. We are paying another 10 cents per share quarterly interim dividend. We have also resumed share buy-backs (up to $1bn), three quarters after we paused them following the Hang Seng Bank privatisation announcement."
The board approved a second interim dividend of $0.10 per share, bringing the full first-half dividend to $0.20.
HSBC raised its banking net interest income guidance for 2026 to at least $46 billion, up from a prior forecast of around $46 billion, citing a continued favorable interest rate environment. Banking net interest income for the first half rose $1.6 billion to $22.9 billion, driven by deposit balance growth and the benefit of reinvestment of the bank's structural hedge at higher yields.
Wealth fee and other income grew 18% on a constant currency basis in the period. The corporate and institutional banking segment also posted growth, with wholesale transaction banking fee and other income rising 6% from a year earlier.
The bank's annualized return on tangible equity was 18.2%, up from 14.7% in the first half of 2025. Excluding notable items, that figure rose to 19.1%.
The strong half-year figures mark a turnaround from the opening quarter, when the bank fell short of estimates after booking a $400 million charge tied to an alleged U.K. fraud and building additional reserves against exposure to the Middle East conflict. The bank maintained its full-year credit loss guidance at around 45 basis points of average gross customer loans.
The bank's common equity tier 1 capital ratio stood at 14.1% at June 30, down from 14.9% at the end of 2025, reflecting the impact of the Hang Seng Bank privatization, dividends, and an increase in risk-weighted assets.
HSBC stock was flat in Hong Kong afternoon trading Tuesday, pulling back from a record high of HK$169.5 reached earlier in the session.
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