HSBC Holdings Plc reported a 10 percent rise in third-quarter profit on Tuesday, beating analysts' estimates, as its wealth management and wholesale banking businesses benefited from slower-than-expected interest rate cuts as the group embarked on one of the biggest overhauls in its history.
Europe’s biggest bank made a pretax profit of $8.5 billion for the July-September period, up from $7.7 billion a year earlier. That compares with an average brokerage estimate of $7.6 billion compiled by HSBC.
The bank's profits after taxes also increased to $6.75 billion, compared to $6.27 billion during the third quarter of last year.
HSBC's revenues rose 5 percent in the third quarter to about $17 billion, compared to $16.2 billion last year.
At the same time, the bank's board of directors approved the disbursement of interim cash dividends for the third time during the current year at a rate of $0.1 per share, which is the same rate as the dividends last year.
The London-headquartered, Asia-focused bank also announced an additional $3 billion in share buybacks, in addition to a $6 billion buyback program announced earlier this year.
HSBC shares in Hong Kong rose more than 2 percent after the results were announced.
The bank has unveiled a comprehensive restructuring roadmap under new chief executive George El-Hedery aimed at controlling costs and improving efficiency. HSBC announced last week that it would consolidate some operations under a new leadership structure.
“We will start implementing these plans immediately, but the bank will reveal more details in February 2025,” Al-Hadiri said in the earnings statement.
The bank said it will pay an interim dividend of 10 cents per share, the third in 2024 after a 41 cent payment announced earlier this year.
On the other hand, the bank kept its expectations for the current year as a whole at the same levels announced last July.
