Banking giant HSBC’s third-quarter pre-tax profit more than doubles

Profit after tax increased by 3.6 billion US dollars (£3bn) to 6.3 billion US dollars (£5.2bn), while revenue rose by 40 per cent to 16.2 billion US dollars (£13.4bn).

Meanwhile, the firm said operating expenses grew by 2 per cent to 8 billion US dollars (£6.6bn), driven primarily by higher technology costs, rising inflation and an increase in the company’s performance-related pay.

In a statement, group chief executive Noel Quinn said: “We have had three consecutive quarters of strong financial performance and are on track to achieve our mid-teens return on tangible equity target for 2023.

“There was good broad-based growth across all businesses and geographies, supported by the interest rate environment.

“Our Wealth business also gained further traction, attracting 34 billion US dollars (£28bn) of net new invested assets in the quarter and growing wealth balances by 12 per cent compared with last year.”

Mr Quinn continued: “We are pleased to again reward our shareholders. We have now announced three share buy-backs in 2023 totalling up to 7 billion US dollars (£5.8bn), as well as three quarterly dividends which total 0.30 US dollars per share.

“This underlines the substantial distribution capacity that we have, even as we continue to invest in growth.”

Richard Hunter, Head of Markets at interactive investor, commented: “HSBC has brought down the curtain on a largely forgettable banks’ reporting season in largely positive fashion, still reaping the benefits of size but missing estimates on a couple of metrics.

“In particular, investors could focus on cost guidance, where the group amended its forecast for the year for costs to rise by 4 per cent as opposed to the previously guided 2 per cent. Operating expenditure rose by 2 per cent in the third quarter (although is currently down by 2 per cent in the year to date), which HSBC is attributing to higher technology costs, inflationary pressures and the potential for performance-related pay pressure at the year end.

"In all, HSBC is managing to shield itself from economic attack through its sheer size, while also remaining mindful on the importance of continuing to grow the business, especially in areas where it has particular strength. The announcement of a further share buyback leaves little for detractors to focus on, despite a couple of minor misses.”