At a glance
We performed strongly in the first half of 2025, with revenue growing in each of our four businesses.
For the half-year ended 30 June 2025
Highlights:
- Excluding notable items (see ‘context behind the numbers’ below), profit before tax and revenue increased by 5% and 6% respectively
- Annualised return on average tangible equity (RoTE) was 14.7%, or 18.2% excluding notable items
- Our four businesses – Hong Kong, UK, Corporate and Institutional Banking, and International Wealth and Premier Banking – sustained momentum in their earnings
- Strong performances in our Wealth business, Foreign Exchange and Debt and Equity Markets boosted revenue
- We approved a second interim dividend of $0.10 per share
- We intend to initiate a share buyback of up to $3bn, which we expect to complete by our 3Q 2025 results announcement
Group CEO
“We’re making positive progress in becoming a simple, more agile, focused organisation built on our core strengths.
“In the first half, we continued to execute our strategy with discipline and each of our four businesses sustained momentum in their earnings, with each growing revenue. This gives us confidence in our ability to deliver our targets.
“We continue to navigate this period of economic uncertainty and market volatility from a position of strength, putting the changing needs of our customers at the heart of everything we do.”
Georges Elhedery, HSBC Group CEO
30 July 2025
Outlook
We operate in a global environment characterised by constant change and uncertainty. The Group is well-positioned to manage the impacts of these challenges and is focused on delivering the best outcomes for our customers.
We continue to target a mid-teens RoTE in each of the three years from 2025 to 2027, excluding the impact of notable items. We also continue to expect banking net interest income of around $42bn in 2025, based on our latest modelling.
We intend to manage the common equity tier 1 capital ratio within our medium-term target range of 14% to 14.5%, with a dividend payout ratio target basis of 50% for 2025, excluding material notable items and related impacts.
We now expect ECL charges (expected credit losses and other credit impairment charges) as a percentage of average gross loans to be around 40bps in 2025 (including loans held for sale balances) – see ‘context behind the numbers’ below.
We’re on track to deliver on our cost target. We continue to target growth in operating expenses in 2025 of approximately 3%, compared with 2024, on a target basis. That includes the impact of simplification-related saves associated with our reorganisation.
We continue to expect demand for lending to remain muted during 2025. However, over the medium to long term, we continue to expect mid-single digit percentage growth for year-on-year customer lending balances. For fee and other income in Wealth, we expect double-digit percentage average annual growth over the medium term.
Context behind the numbers
Our 1H25 profit before tax decreased by $5.7bn compared with 1H24, primarily due to the recognition of dilution and impairment losses of $2.1bn related to our associate, Bank of Communications Co. (BoCom) Limited.
This also reflects the non-recurrence of $3.6bn in net gains in 1H24 related to the disposals of our banking business in Canada and our business in Argentina.
ECL of $1.9bn were $0.9bn higher than in 1H24, including charges related to the Hong Kong real estate sector, reflecting updates to our ECL calculation models and a more challenging operating environment.
The 1H25 period also included allowances to reflect heightened uncertainty and a deterioration in the forward economic outlook due to geopolitical tensions and higher trade tariffs.
Target basis operating expenses were $0.4bn or 3% higher than in 1H24, primarily due to higher spend and investment in technology and the impacts of inflation.
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