The UK bank’s revenues across global business segments increased double digits in H1 2023 while structured products’ sales volume and issuance rebounded YoY.

HSBC has reported robust earnings for the first half of 2023, with net profit doubling to US$18.1 billion, according to the bank’s 2023 interim report.

The bank’s profit before tax jumped 147% to US$21.7 billion year-on-year (YoY) – this included a US$2.1 billion reversal of an impairment relating to the planned sale of its retail banking operations in France and a provisional gain of US$1.5 billion on the acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank UK.

Reported revenue rose 50% YoY to US$36.9 billion during the first six months, which is attributed to ‘higher net interest income in all of [its] global businesses due to interest rate rises’.

There was ‘good broad-based profit generation around the world’ and higher revenue in our global businesses driven by strong net interest income, and continued tight cost control, said CEO Noel Quinn (pictured).

Structured notes liabilities – designated at fair price – were up 20.2% to US$10.1 billion as at the end of June compared with a year ago, including US$6.3 billion equity-linked notes, US$2.8 billion  foreign exchange (FX)-linked notes.

SRP database registers a total of 5,757 equity-linked investments (ELIs) issued by HSBC in Hong Kong SAR during the six months, up from 2,183 in the prior-year period. These are additional 4,488 dual currency deposits tracking a total of seven FX pairs.

Some 1,416 structured notes featuring snowball were issued by HSBC in Taiwan in H1 23, doubling YoY.

The US retail market also rebounded, with issuance increasing from 555 to 589 YoY, according to SRP data, leading to a 18% increase of sales volume, amounting to US$1.96 billion.

Revenues growth across segments

HSBC’s wealth and personal banking (WPB) posted US$16.2 billion in revenue in H1 23, up 61% YoY. In the meantime, net new invested assets in Asia performed strongly with a 21% increase, accounting for US$27 billion of the US$34 billion in total.

The global banking and markets (GBM) segment saw its revenue climb 14% to US$8.5 billion in H1 23 YoY. The growth comes from the collaboration revenue by referrals between GBM and other global businesses, which was up 5% to US$2 billion.

The commercial banking (CMB) division’s revenue soared 73% to US$12.2 billion during the same period, driven by the bank’s global payment solutions.

Meanwhile, HSBC’s operating expenses dropped four percent to US$15.5 billion due to lower restructuring and other related costs following the completion of its cost-saving programme at the end of 2022 and a US$200m impact from a reversal of historical asset impairments.

However, HSBC noted that 23% of the expenses, or US$3.5 billion coming from technology, which increased 12.8% YoY, as the bank continued to ‘digitalise at scale’.

Click here to download HSBC’s 2023 interim report.