(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Milano, 5 mag - UK lender HSBC said that its first quarter reported pretax profit fell 0.1 billion dollars from a year ago to 9.4 billion dollars reflecting higher expected credit losses and other credit impairment charges (ECL), an adverse impact from notable items, and a rise in operating expenses.

This was partly offset by revenue growth from strong Wealth fee and other income, as well as higher banking net interest income (NII).

Profit after tax of 7.4 billion dollars, down 0.2 billion dollars from a year ago.

Notable items included a disposal loss on classification to held for sale of 0.3 billion dollars associated with the planned sale of our business in Malta, and losses of 0.2 billion from the recycling of foreign currency translation reserves following the completion of the sale of the UK life insurance business.

Also, on May 4, PT Bank HSBC Indonesia, an indirect subsidiary of HSBC Holdings, entered into a binding agreement to sell its retail banking business to PT Bank OCBC NISP Tbk.

The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to complete in the first half of 2027, should result in an up to 0.4 billion dollar pre-tax gain.

Constant currency pretax profit. excluding notable items was broadly steady at 10.1 billion dollars Annualised return on average tangible equity (RoTE) was 17.3%, compared with 17.9% a year ago. Excluding notable items, it rose 0.3 percentage points to 18.7%.

Revenue increased 6% to 18.6 billion dolllars reflecting strong growth in Wealth fees and other income in the International Wealth and Premier Banking (IWPB) and Hong Kong business segments, supported by higher customer activity. The increase also included a one-off property asset disposal gain of 0.2 billion dollars, and growth in banking NII. Constant currency revenue excluding notable items rose by 0.7 billion dollars to 19.1 billion dollars.

NII rose 8% to 8.9 billion dollars, including an adverse 0.1 billion one-off item. The increase was mainly driven by deposit balance growth, the benefit of reinvestment of the structural hedge at higher yields and the impact of lower market interest rates on the funding deployed to the trading book, partly offset by higher trading balances. Banking NII, which excludes the funding costs associated with the trading book, which were stable, increased by 0.7 billion dollars to 11.3 billion dollars. the net interest margin (NIM) was 1.60%, up 1 basis points but down 4 bps from the fourth quarter, primarily reflecting the impact of a one-off item.

ECL rose 0.4 billion dollars to 1.3 billion dollars primarily reflected a 0.4 billion dollar fraud-related, secondary, securitisation exposure with a financial sponsor in the UK in the Corporate and Institutional Banking (CIB) business, as well as a 0.3 billion increase in allowances to reflect heightened uncertainty and a deterioration in the forward economic outlook due to the onset of the conflict in the Middle East.

The common equity tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio of 14.0% decreased by 0.9 percentage points compared with the fourth quarter, reflecting the impact of the privatisation of Hang Seng Bank, dividends and an increase in risk-weighted assets (RWAs), partly offset by regulatory profit.

The board has approved a first interim dividend for 2026 of.

0.10 dollars per share.

(RADIOCOR) 05-05-26 08:11:25 (0131) 5 NNNN