The UK/Hong Kong-listed group reported a broadly positive set of results today. The lender said a clear majority of its net new money on the wealth side of the business was booked in Asia during the first half of 2026.

HSBC has reported today that it logged a 23 per cent year-on-year rise in pre-tax profit to $19.5 billion in the first six months of 2026. 

The increase was primarily caused by a year-on-year net favourable effect of $2.2 billion in notable items. The increase also reflected growth in banking net interest income and higher fee and other income, primarily in wealth and wholesale transaction banking, the UK/Hong Kong-listed group said in a statement.

The positive impact was partly offset by higher-than-expected credit losses and other credit impairment charges, and a planned increase in operating expenses. 

The “notable items” referred to included $300 million of disposal losses recognised on classification to be held for sale associated with the planned sale of HSBC’s Malta business, restructuring costs ($300 million) associated with streamlining the business, and losses of $200 million from recycling foreign currency translation reserves after HSBC sold its UK life insurance business.

A year earlier in the first half of 2025, HSBC’s notable items included dilution and impairment losses of $2.1 billion related to HSBC’s associate Bank of Communications Co and restructuring costs associated with its organisational simplification of $600 million.

So far this year, shares in HSBC have risen by more than 34 per cent. 

Revenues and costs
Revenues rose by 11 per cent to $37.7 billion. Some of the increase was helped by strong growth in wealth fee and other income in HSBC’s international wealth and premier banking and Hong Kong business segments, supported by higher customer activity. 

The increase also included a one-off property asset disposal gain of $0.2 billion. Constant currency revenue excluding notable items rose by $2.0 billion to $38.2 billion compared with H1 2025.

Operating expenses of $17.4 billion rose 2 per cent in H1 2026 from a year before. 

The bank said it had a Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio of 14.1 per cent, down slightly from the end of 2025, affected by the privatisation of Hang Seng Bank Limited, dividends and an increase in risk-weighted assets, partly offset by regulatory profit.

HSBC’s board has approved a second interim dividend of $0.10 per share. It also plans to start a share buy-back of up to $1 billion, which it expects to complete by its third-quarter 2026 results announcement.

Looking ahead, HSBC said it is confident in achieving a target originally set out in February of a return on tangible equity of 17 per cent or more for this year, 2027 and 2028, excluding notable items. It is also targeting annual revenue growth from 2026 to 2028, rising to 5 per cent in 2028. HSBC said it is on track to deliver year-on-year growth in operating expenses of about 1 per cent in 2026 on a target basis.

Wealth results
HSBC elaborated on its wealth-related results.

From 1 January, HSBC said it now excludes asset management third-party distribution assets when defining its “wealth balances.” On this new basis, wealth balances across all its business segments were $1.6 trillion, stable compared with 31 December 2025. 

Within this figure, HSBC said it has attracted $64 billion in net new money, of which the lion’s share at $57 billion was booked in Asia. 

Strategic transactions
In July 2026, HSBC said it had sold HSBC Life Singapore. It also finished its targeted review of its Australia retail banking business, selling its portfolio of home and personal loans, winding down the remaining retail business and transferring various units, including private banking, in Australia, to the Sydney branch of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. 

“We remain focused on opportunities where we have a clear competitive advantage and accretive returns, and we aim to redeploy approximately $1.8 billion of additional costs from non-strategic activities into these areas over the medium term. This includes an additional $300 million of cost savings from synergies expected following the privatisation of Hang Seng Bank,” it said.