HSBC building in the Canary Wharf district of London, UK
Leon Neal | AFP | Getty Images
HSBC said Tuesday that its pre-tax profit for 2020 fell 34% from a year ago to $ 8.8 billion and declared a 15-cent dividend on account per share.
The bank’s profits exceeded analysts ’expectations of $ 8.3 billion for the past year as a whole, according to estimates compiled by the London-based bank.
Prior to the earnings launch, HSBC shares in Hong Kong jumped 3% in early trading on Tuesday.
Like many of its global partners, HSBC last year made provisions for possible loan losses as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Beyond the financial results, investors had been anticipating the bank’s comments on dividend payments and share repurchases. HSBC stopped these two activities last year as British regulators urged lenders to retain capital.
The Bank of England in December said British banks could resume dividend payments. And last week Barclays announced it would resume those payments and undertake a £ 700m ($ 985.4m) share repurchase.
Jackson Wong, director of asset management at Amber Hill Capital, told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Tuesday that a dividend per share of between 13 and 15 cents from HSBC would be considered “reasonable” by investors.
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