At a glance
We had a strong first quarter as we continued to deliver for our customers and execute our strategy at pace.
For the quarter ended 31 March 2025
Highlights:
- Excluding notable items (see ‘context behind the numbers’ below), profit before tax and revenue grew by 11% and 7% respectively
- Our annualised return on tangible equity (RoTE) was 18.4%, excluding notable items, up 2 percentage points from 1Q24
- Strong performances in our Wealth business, Foreign Exchange, and Debt and Equity Markets boosted profit and revenue
- Customer loans and deposits were broadly stable, on a constant currency basis
- Our common equity tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio was 14.7% on 31 March
- We approved a first interim dividend of $0.10 per share
- We’ve completed the $2bn share buyback announced at our Annual Results 2024 and intend to initiate a further buyback of up to $3bn
Group CEO
“Our strong results this quarter demonstrate momentum in our earnings, discipline in the execution of our strategy and confidence in our ability to deliver our targets.
“We continue to support our customers through this period of economic uncertainty and market unpredictability, which we enter from a position of financial strength.”
Georges Elhedery, HSBC Group CEO
29 April 2025
Outlook
The macroeconomic environment is facing heightened uncertainty and supporting our clients through this volatile period is our top priority. The Group is well-positioned to manage the impacts of these challenges through our high-quality revenue streams, conservative approach to credit risk and strong deposit franchise.
As a result, our targets and guidance remain unchanged from our last update, in our Annual Results in February.
We continue to target a mid-teens RoTE in each of the three years from 2025 to 2027, excluding the impact of notable items.
We continue to intend to manage the CET1 capital ratio within our medium-term target range of 14% to 14.5%, with a dividend payout ratio target basis of 50% for 2025, excluding material notable items and related impacts.
We continue to expect banking net interest income of around $42bn in 2025. Our current expectation reflects modelling of a number of market-dependent factors, acknowledging the outlook for interest rates has become more volatile and uncertain.
We continue to expect ECL charges (expected credit losses and other credit impairment charges) as a percentage of average gross loans of between 30bps to 40bps in 2025 (including loans held for sale balances).
We’re on track to deliver the cost savings and strategic re-positioning communicated in February. We continue to target growth in operating expenses in 2025 of approximately 3%, compared with 2024, on a target basis. That includes the impact of simplification-related saves associated with our announced reorganisation.
Over the medium to long term, we continue to expect mid-single digit percentage growth for year-on-year customer lending balances. For fee and other income in Wealth, we expect double-digit percentage average annual growth over the medium term.
Context behind the numbers
Our 1Q25 reported profit declined by $3.2bn compared with 1Q24, reflecting the non-recurrence of a net positive impact of $3.7bn in 1Q24 related to disposals.
These included a gain of $4.8bn on the sale of our banking business in Canada, inclusive of the recycling of losses in foreign currency translation reserves and other reserves.
They also included a $1.1bn loss on the classification of our business in Argentina as held for sale.
Downloads and Zoom meeting
- 1Q 2025 Earnings Release (PDF 2MB)
- 1Q 2025 Presentation to Investors and Analysts (PDF 918KB)
- 1Q 2025 Data Pack (Excel) (XLSX 231KB)
- 1Q 2025 Data Pack (PDF 543KB)
Find out more in our Investors section or view details of the Zoom meeting replay for investors and analysts.