Banking giant HSBC Holdings PLC yesterday announced a dip in pre-tax profits last year, calling the ongoing impact of COVID-19 the main factor in its financial performance.
The Asia-focused lender said it made US$17.5 billion before tax, down more than 7 percent year-on-year, while reported revenue increased 4 percent to US$51.7 billion.
In a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange, HSBC detailed the tough global economic climate international banks are facing.
Photo: AFP
It cited renewed virus outbreaks in Hong Kong and mainland China as denting last year’s economic growth.
It added that global uncertainty sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, elevated inflation and rising interest rates contributed to a difficult financial environment that it expects would spill into this year’s earnings and even eclipse the toll of the pandemic.
“We are already seeing ... a cost-of-living crisis affecting many of our customers and colleagues,” Mark Tucker, the group’s chairman said in a statement.
However, after-tax profits rose US$2 billion to US$16.7 billion, while fourth-quarter pre-tax profit nearly doubled from US$2.5 billion to US$5.2 billion.
“All of our businesses grew profits in 2022, and we maintained our strong capital, funding and liquidity positions,” Tucker added.
The bank said that last year reflected “a strong overall financial performance” and announced a full-year dividend of US$0.32 per share.
At an event last month, Tucker said China’s reopening and latest measures to stabilize its turbulent property market “will be positive for both its economy and the global economy.”
The lender has vowed to accelerate a multiyear pivot to Asia and the Middle East, and its ambitions to lead Asia’s wealth management market have shown early signs of success.
In November last year, the bank agreed to sell its Canadian division for US$10.1 billion, saying it would use the funds to invest in its core business and return cash to investors.
The Canadian sale came after a months-long campaign by HSBC’s biggest shareholder and Chinese insurance giant, Ping An Insurance Group Co (平安保險集團), to cut costs and shift more resources to Asia.
Ping An has said that spinning off HSBC’s Asian operations would unlock shareholder value amid tensions between China and Western powers, though the bank has rejected the move.
“It has been, and remains, our judgement that alternative structural options would not deliver increased value for shareholders,” Tucker said.
Chief executive Noel Quinn said the bank was focused on delivering a returns target of at least 12 percent for next year as well as keeping costs down.
“We are on track to deliver higher returns in 2023 and have built a platform for further value creation,” Quinn said.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS