Banking & Finance HSBC Q1 profit triples on higher interest rates By Reuters May 2, 2023 Creative Commons The bank dished out the third interim dividend payout this year of 10 cents per share, bringing the total payout to 30 cents per share HSBC Holdings reported a 212 percent increase in quarterly profit on Tuesday, as it benefitted from rising interest rates around the world. Europe’s largest bank posted a pretax profit of $12.9 billion for the first quarter ended March, versus $4.2 billion a year earlier. The results were better than the $8.64 billion average estimate of 17 analysts compiled by HSBC. HSBC’s headline profit was boosted by a reversal of a $2 billion impairment it took against the planned sale of its French business, reflecting the fact that the deal may no longer go through. The bank said the planned $10 billion sale of its Canadian business, originally slated to complete by the end of this year, will now only likely go through in the first quarter of 2024. That follows a warning the bank gave last month that its France disposal could be in jeopardy over regulatory capital concerns for the buyer. The London-headquartered bank announced the first of a new cycle of buybacks along with the results of up to $2 billion. It also announced a dividend of $0.10 per share, its first quarterly dividend since 2019.
