HSBC has had a tumultuous past two years as it was hit by the coronavirus as well as tensions between China and western nations
HSBC is emerging from its coronavirus and restructuring troubles to become more reliably profitable, boss Noel Quinn said Monday as he announced the start of a $2 billion share buyback.
The Asia-reliant lender had a tumultuous 2020 as its fortunes took a hammering from both the coronavirus and simmering geopolitical tensions.
“While we retain a cautious outlook on the external risk environment, we believe that the lows of recent quarters are behind us,” Quinn wrote in a note attached to the bank’s third-quarter results.
The results statement showed HSBC’s pre-tax profit more than doubled on-year in the third quarter to $5.4 billion. Profit after tax came in at $4.2 billion, up from $2.2 billion the same period last year.
In February it published a new strategy laying out plans to redouble its attempt to seize more of the Asian market.
Earlier this year the bank sold its 90 branches in the United States and completed a long-running disposal of its unprofitable French retail business.
HSBC’s historical and present-day connections to China are both its major selling point and a source of vulnerability.
HSBC endorsed the security law, a move that led to criticism from lawmakers in Britain and the United States, and has frozen the accounts of some Hong Kong democracy activists at the request of local authorities.
HSBC says it has to obey the laws in each jurisdiction it operates in.
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Originally published as HSBC chief Quinn says bank’s lows ‘are behind us’