Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
HSBC has announced it is on track to deliver $1.5bn of cost savings six months earlier than planned, as chief executive Georges Elhedery presses ahead with an overhaul of one of the world’s biggest banks.
The savings will be made in the first half of this year, HSBC said on Wednesday, as the bank also raised its target for return on tangible equity to at least 17 per cent, up from “mid-teens”, for this year and the following two.
Elhedery took over in 2024 and kicked off a worldwide restructuring that included shutting HSBC’s equity capital markets division and M&A advisory in the US and Europe, and pulling out of some markets entirely.
The accelerated cost savings, some of which will come from the merger of commercial and investment banking units, came as HSBC reported $6.8bn of pre-tax profits in the final quarter of 2025, up from $2.3bn a year earlier. Revenue rose 42 per cent to $16.4bn.
The results are the first from HSBC since it completed its $14bn privatisation of local Hong Kong lender Hang Seng Bank. The bank said the deal would achieve cost savings and an increase in revenues of as much as $900mn by 2028.
HSBC’s London-listed shares rose 5.5 per cent on Wednesday.
Analysts at Citigroup said the results represented “a good print, a reassuring strategy update, welcome new information on Hang Seng and enhanced targets”.
The bank’s move to take Hang Seng private, announced in October, was seen as a recommitment to Hong Kong and an effort to more closely manage the lender.
London-headquartered HSBC also said it would not pursue further share buybacks until its capital ratios had improved.
HSBC’s employee numbers fell from 221,000 to just over 218,000 between 2024-25. Pay and benefits, however, rose from $20.2bn to $21.5bn in the same period.
In a statement on Wednesday, Elhedery said that 2025 was “a year of decisive action and swift execution, which is reflected in our strong performance”.