HSBC shares fall despite 45.5% profit jump

HSBC shares fell more than seven percent in London on Tuesday even after the bank reported a 45.5 percent rise in third-quarter net profit to $7.1 billion.

The London-headquartered lender said pre-tax profit for the three months to the end of September rose 32 percent to $9.6 billion, while group revenue increased nearly five percent to $18.6 billion.

The results sent HSBC to the bottom of the FTSE 100 index and mirrored a fall in Hong Kong.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said investors already knew higher interest rates were helping banks and that HSBC's profit rise was not enough to win them over. He said the bank remained under pressure to lower costs.

HSBC said restructuring and cost-saving actions, including selling several business units this year, had saved $1.4 billion since 2025. The bank announced a dividend of 10 US cents per share and plans for a new $1.0 billion stock buyback.

Chief executive Georges Elhedery said the bank was simplifying HSBC to create more capacity to invest, grow and deliver returns to shareholders.

HSBC has been cutting jobs during a global restructuring under Elhedery, who took over two years ago. The lender told AFP this month that it was in a consultation period after the Financial Times reported that hundreds of jobs were at risk in its wealth management business because of AI adoption.

Chief financial officer Pam Kaur said AI would change how work is done and affect some roles, but she did not give a specific number of affected jobs. HSBC said it continued to target year-on-year revenue growth through to 2028.