HSBC profit jumps to £15.4bn – but falls short of expectations

HSBC has reported a 15.9% rise in pre-tax profit in 2018, coming in short of expectations following a challenging fourth quarter.

Europe’s largest bank reported a profit before tax of 19.9 billion US dollars (£15.4bn) last year compared to 17.2 billion dollars (£13.3bn) the year before, falling below analysts’ estimates of 21.3 billion US dollars (£16.5bn).

Reported revenue was 53.8 billion US dollars (£41.7 billion) last year, a rise of 5% from 2017.

Group chief executive John Flint said: “These are good results that demonstrate progress against the plan that I outlined in June 2018.

“Profits and revenue were both up despite a challenging fourth quarter, and our return on tangible equity is significantly higher than in 2017.

“This is an encouraging first step towards meeting our return on tangible equity target of more than 11% by 2020.”