HSBC Posts Sharply Higher Quarterly Profit, Plans $1 Billion Share Buyback

By Kosaku Narioka

HSBC Holdings reported a surge in second-quarter net profit and announced a share buyback of up to $1 billion.

The London-based bank said Tuesday that net profit jumped 68% from a year earlier to $7.69 billion for the three months ended June. That beat the estimate of $7.36 billion in a poll of analysts by data provider Visible Alpha.

Last year's bottom line was weighed by $2.1 billion of losses related to associate Bank of Communications.

The bank said it plans to start a share repurchase of up to $1 billion, which it expects to complete by the time it announces third-quarter results.

Under Chief Executive Georges Elhedery, HSBC has been undergoing a broad organizational revamp, cutting costs and streamlining operations. Elhedery has been pushing the bank to focus on its strengths: retail banking in the U.K. and Hong Kong, acting as a bridge for large companies to global markets, and helping wealthy clients with their finances.

In recent weeks, HSBC has agreed to sell its Egypt retail banking business to Emirates NBD, its $25 billion Australian home and personal loan portfolio to private-equity firm Blackstone, and its Singapore life and health insurance business to Allianz for $2.1 billion. Second-quarter pretax profit increased across its four key segments.

"HSBC is becoming the stronger bank we set out to build," Chief Executive Georges Elhedery said.

Last week, Standard Chartered reported better-than-expected second-quarter net profit, bolstered by a strong performance in wealth banking that offset credit charges tied to the Iran conflict. It also announced a new $1.0 billion share buyback.

Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 04, 2026 00:58 ET (04:58 GMT)