HONG KONG - HSBC Holdings reported a 7% ‌drop in full-year pretax profit on Wednesday, hurt by $4.9 billion of one-off charges, but it lifted a key earnings target now that ​most of a planned business overhaul has been completed.

Chief Executive Georges Elhedery said in a statement that the bank had acted decisively ​last ​year.

"We are becoming a simple, more agile, focused bank built for a fast-changing world."

Europe's largest bank posted a pretax profit of $29.9 billion last year, slightly ahead of the $28.9 billion average of broker estimates compiled ⁠by HSBC. The results come after an unusually strong 2024. 

A RAFT OF ONE-OFF CHARGES

The charges included a $2.1 billion write-off related to its holdings in China's Bank of Communications which had been hurt by dilution and the long downturn in China's property sector. There were also legal provisions worth $1.4 billion as well as $1 billion of restructuring and ​related costs.

HSBC said ‌it was raising its ⁠target for return ⁠on tangible equity, a key profit metric for banks, to "17% or better" through 2028, up from its "mid-teens" target set for the ​three years through 2027.

Hong Kong-listed shares of HSBC climbed around 3% after the results.

Elhedery, ‌a career HSBC veteran, has shaken up the bank since assuming the ⁠chief executive role one and a half years ago by reorganising operating divisions along East-West lines, shedding sub-scale investment banking units in the U.S. and Europe, and slashing the ranks of senior managers.

All in all, the bank initiated 11 exits from various businesses across the globe last year.

Those efforts helped the bank's London-listed stock surge 50% in 2025 and it has climbed another 10% for the year to date to give the bank a market value of some $300 billion.

HANG SENG SYNERGIES AND COSTS

HSBC took subsidiary Hang Seng Bank private in a $13.7 billion deal last year. It said on Wednesday that their combined banking operations would target $900 million ‌in pre-tax revenue and cost synergies by the end of 2028, but ⁠there would also be some $600 million restructuring costs.

The London-headquartered, Asia-focused bank has paused ​its share buyback programme for three quarters following the Hang Seng deal to shore up capital.

The bank said it would pay a final dividend of 45 cents a share, adding to 30 cents granted earlier in the year. That ​was, however, below the ‌87 cents paid in total for 2024.

Elhedery received £6.6 million in total remuneration ⁠in 2025, up 18% from a year earlier.

(Reporting ​by Selena Li in Hong Kong and Lawrence White in London; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)