HSBC announces $3 billion share buyback after second-quarter profit plunges 29%, missing expectations

HSBC, which reported fit before tax for the three months June of $6.3 billion — down 29% from a year ago — announced a buyback of $3 billion

Here are HSBC's second-quarter 2025 results compared with consensus estimates compiled by the bank.fit before tax: $6.3 billion vs. $6.99 billionRevenue: $16.5 billion vs. $16.67 billionOperating expenses rose by 10% compared to the same period a year ago, and were largely owed to restructuring and other related costs as well as from increased spending and investment in nology, the bank said.Hong Kong-listed s of HSBC declined 2.71%.HSBC Group CEO Georges Elhedery flagged "structural challenges" to the global economy that have caused uncertainty and market volatility, citing "broad-based tariffs" and "fiscal vulnerabilities.""This is complicating the inflation and interest rate outlook creating greater uncertainty

Even before tariffs take effect, trade disruptions are reshaping the economic landscape," Elhedery said.The bank said it was "well-positioned" to manage the uncertainty, including tariffs, although its return on tangible equity — a measure of generating fits — could be hit."While we would expect the direct impact from tariffs to have a relatively modest impact on our revenue, the broader macroeconomic deterioration may see RoTE excluding notable items fall outside of our mid-teens targeted range in future years," the bank's statement read.HSBC warned that demand for lending would remain muted for the rest of the year, while forecasting further growth in its wealth division."We continue to expect double-digit percentage average annual growth in fee and other income in Wealth over the medium term," the bank said.HSBC is planning to terminate several employees in its equities team in its Germany office, as part of a broader effort to scale back its investment banking operations outside of Asia and the Middle East, Bloomberg reported last week

The move aligns with Elhedery's push to revamp the investment bank

Last October, HSBC announced a restructuring plan to split its operations into four divisions, creating separate "Eastern " and "Western " sectors

HSBC has said the reorganization will cut costs by $300 million this year.In January, the lender announced that it will shut down its M&A and parts of its equities operations in Europe and the Americas."It [HSBC] needs to make sure that holders in Asia remain on board with the strategic direction CEO Georges Elhedery is taking centered on simplification and intensive cost-cutting, but without a radical overhaul of the entire model," Morningstar's senior analyst Michael Makdad told CNBC.The immediate challenge for the group is finding a replacement for HSBC's Group Chairman Mark Tucker, he added

Tucker will step in September this year.