HSBC profits surge 32%, sparking fresh calls for bank taxes in the budget – business live

Although HSBC has been raking in the profits, smaller businesses are finding life rather tougher. The number of UK businesses in ‘significant’ financial distress has hit a record high of 738,144, according to the latest Red Flag Alert research from financial group BTG. That’s the highest level since the report began in 2004. BTG found that the highest volumes of firms strugging operate in support services, construction and real estate and property services. Julie Palmer, managing partner at BTG, says its a worrying sign ahead of the budget: “Record levels of ‘significant’ financial distress underline just how many businesses are approaching the Autumn Budget with limited financial headroom. While firms will naturally be looking for clarity on taxation and economic policy, many of the pressures they face extend well beyond any single Budget announcement. “My real concern is for consumer-facing sectors such as leisure and hospitality, particularly as we enter the run up to the vital Christmas trading period. Higher employment costs, rising inflation and interest rates will add real-world pressure to many domestic budgets. Add into that a forecast 26% rise in the January 2027 energy price cap and households are likely to concentrate on the essentials. We’ll find out in around 28 hours what new taxes the chancellor has decided to impose on the UK banking sector. These pictures from the Treasury show John Healey preparing for the budget in his flat in Downing Street in recent days: You’ll note there appears to be a bottle of HP sauce behind Healey’s left ear, as the chancellor moves between his kitchen island and the dining table. Frankly I’m surprised it’s not closer. The chancellor is rather fond of a dob of brown sauce, and even carries a bottle with him. The Times reported that last week he bought a sausage roll from Greggs, pulled a bottle of HP Sauce from his briefcase and “permitted himself a moment’s indulgence” after announcing the approval of the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea. HSBC CFO’s, Pam Kaur, was asked by reporters why the bank’s shares were down today (they fell in Hong Kong first, and then in London). Kaur suggested some reasons: “I think in a high interest rate environment, there’s sometimes a market expectation that we upgrade guidances or we change our targets, and particularly from a banking NII perspective. So that’s all I can think of.” Here’s Will Howlett, financials analyst at Quilter Cheviot, on the drop in HSBC’s shares this morning: “HSBC’s third-quarter results have fallen a little short of market expectations. Revenue was weaker than anticipated, with pressure on net interest income and a slowdown in wealth, and that disappointment has translated into a slide in the share price. “The numbers themselves are not disastrous. Profitability remains strong, with an 18.2% return on tangible equity, while loan losses were better than expected and HSBC has reiterated its target of delivering returns above 17% over the next three years. The bank is also returning another $1bn to shareholders through a buyback. “The issue is that HSBC has set a high bar for itself. Following a strong run for the shares, investors have become accustomed to robust results, so even relatively modest misses can prompt a sharper reaction. Today’s fall therefore looks more like disappointment against high expectations than a significant deterioration in the underlying business.” The 6% drop in HSBC’s share price this morning has made rather a dent in the FTSE 100 share index. The ‘Footsie’ is down 108 points, or 1%, at 10,659 points. HSBC is the largest member of the share index (it’s on track to lose that crown by the end of the day!), ahead of Shell and AstroZeneca. At the close of play yesterday, HSBC was worth almost £234bn, ahead of Shell at £228.75bn. Consumer goods maker Reckitt Benckiser (-6.3%) are also pulling the FTSE 100 down, after it lowered its financial guidance for the year this morning. The City is not impressed with HSBC’s financial results, having expected even higher profits. Shares in HSBC are down 6.7% in early trading, and appears to be pulling the rest of the banking sector down too. That’s because the 32% jump in profits is slightly below analyst forecasts (although $9.6bn should hardly be sniffed at!). Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, says: “You don’t usually get fireworks from HSBC results, and these are no exception. There are signs of some improvement overall, and a boost to the buyback is welcome, but it’s clear why the market wasn’t really inspired by these numbers. HSBC seems to be doing ok, but ok doesn’t really cut it in a world where inflation is back on the menu and growth may start to slow. At least it’s not exactly rolling in profits this time around, providing some useful air cover ahead of a UK budget that will may include another raid on banks.” One strong argument for higher bank taxes is that the financial sector has been benefitting from the increase in interest rates in recent years. That has allowed them to swell their net interest income (NII) by raising the rates charged on borrowers by more than those paid to savers. However, NII is only a small factor behind the jump in HSBC’s profits in the last quarter. NII rose by 6%, or $500m, to $9.3bn – which HSBC attributes to “deposit growth and the benefit of reinvestment of our structural hedge at higher yields”. HSBC also profited from a cost-cutting drive – operating expenses fell by 12%, or $1.3bn, to $8.8bn. It also benefitted from a $1.4bn drop in legal provisions – this was the sum it set aside last year to cover a claim related to Bernie’s Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. HSBC was also quizzed about the impact of last week’s Google Cloud outage. CFO Pam Kaur says: “We do apologise to the impacted customers for any inconvenience. But the services did return fairly quickly to normal during the same day. This issue also had broader market impact. “Now we have a robust process in place where we investigate every incident to share any learnings and to do read-across to ensure that similar incidents don’t happen in the future. And we are very much utilising our risk management capabilities and indeed building upon them to identify, report and manage risk across the organisation. HSBC has also been asked about the impact of AI on the jobs market, after rival Barclays announced 5,000 job cuts last week. The Financial Times reported earlier this month that HSBC is planning sweeping job cuts in its UK wealth management business, but the bank dodged the question today. CFO Pam Kaur told reporters: “We know that AI will change how work is done across industries, and of course it will impact some roles. It’ll transform other roles, and it will change them, while creating entirely new roles. So beyond that, there’s nothing specific in a number-term that I want to share or indeed have to share at the moment. “For the wealth management business, the UK is a home market and we are a leading wealth manager. I’m not going to comment on press speculation on job losses, but what I can tell you is that in terms of customer engagement and serving the needs of our customers, we absolutely focus on the workforce we have, both in terms of skilling it and building on it. And we are also hiring in multiple areas in the UK.” The TUC are also urging the Chancellor to increase taxes on banks in tomorrow’s Budget, arguing the sector could pay tens of billions of pounds more. Rather than simply reversing Jeremy Hunt’s cut to the bank surcharge from 8% to 3%, the TUC argue that the surcharge – additional corporation tax – should be increased further. That would provide funding to pay for a social energy tariff that brings down energy bills for those on low and middle incomes. Hiking the surcharge to 16%, they say, would deliver £24bn over four years. A 35% surcharge, which would be the same level as the windfall tax the Conservatives imposed on energy companies, would yield £60bn over four years. TUC general secretary Paul Nowak says: “Some in the finance lobby have tried every which way to stop tax rises in the Budget. But these results make it blatantly obvious banks can afford to contribute more. “It’s not just HSBC. Barclays announced bumper profits last week too. And Britain’s big four banks have made more than £200bn in profit over the last five years. “With Trump and Putin’s illegal wars rumbling on, working people have another cold, hard winter ahead. Households and businesses are going to need more support - and it’s time for the Chancellor to make the banks pay a fairer share.” HSBC’s jump in profits is prompting fresh calls for new bank taxes in the budget. As the Guardian reported earlier this month, Healey has decided to tap the financial sector for additional revenue. One way would be to reverse cuts to the bank surcharge made by former chancellor Jeremy Hunt – which would raise upwards of £2bn a year. Abhijay Sood, economist at the New Economics Foundation, argues that Healey should go further! “It’s not surprising that HSBC have made such significant profits in the last quarter, but it will be difficult news to swallow for households struggling with rising mortgage costs. Like other big banks, its profitability has depended on keeping interest rates on savings accounts low, and a “stealth subsidy” from taxpayers via the Bank of England due to quantitative easing. “While the rumours of a bank tax change in the Budget are welcome, it is unlikely to go far enough. While banks are making over a billion pounds a week of profit, NEF analysis suggests that the restoration of the bank surcharge to 8% would raise just £1.8bn a year from them.The chancellor should go further by clawing back the stealth subsidy, and use this to fund inflation-busting investment and keep the essentials of life affordable for ordinary people.” HSBC CFO Pam Kaur is speaking to the media now. On the issue of a bank tax (which John Healey could announce tomorrow), Kaur expresses support for what Andy Burnham’s government are doing, saying: “We only have 24 hours to go. We are very encouraged by the government’s growth agenda, particularly how we can lean-in to support not just specific sectors like UK innovation, infrastructure. and the UK trade deals, but also in terms of how we are the connector for the UK with the rest of the world, given the success the government has had with many of these international trade deals.” But Kaur also said HSBC would have to ‘respond to customer behaviour’: “Now, obviously, as our customers make their business investment decisions, we will respond accordingly, because that’s what we do as banks. When the lending demand goes up, we lend more. We are ready with the right risk appetite to do so. We’ll just have to see how businesses and customers react.” Announcing today’s financial results, Georges Elhedery, HSBC’s group CEO, said: “Our performance shows that in a more complex world clients continue to turn to us to navigate uncertainty and seize new opportunities. It also reflects consistent execution of our strategic priorities with pace, precision and discipline. As we simplify HSBC, we are creating greater capacity to invest, grow and deliver strong returns for our shareholders.” Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. As he puts the finishing touches to tomorrow’s budget, John Healey may note that another bank has reported a jump in earnings. HSBC is handing $2.7bn (£2bn) to shareholders after a 32% surge in profits, that will further assure the Treasury that the UK’s top banks can shoulder a tax hike in the budget, my colleague Kalyeena Makortoff reports. The London headquartered bank reported this morning that profits grew nearly a third to $9.6bn in the July to September quarter - slightly below consensus estimates - helped by higher interest rates, lower loan losses and smaller legal provisions compared to last year. It meant the bank could hand $2.7bn to shareholders. That included another $1bn share buyback, as well as an interim dividend of $0.1 per share, that the bank said would mean distributing another $1.71bn to its investors. Net interest income - the difference between what banks charge for loans versus pay out for savers’ deposits, rose to $9.3bn from $8.8bn year on year. However, that was apparently lifted by its hedging strategy and a growth in deposits in Hong Kong, while UK deposits stayed flat. HSBC is following Barclays, which last week reported a 12% jump in profits The agenda Morning: UK holds auction of Treasury Gilt 2032 1pm GMT: US house price index 2pm: US consumer confidence report 2pm: US new homes sales data