HSBC plans $2B more in buybacks

hong kong — HSBC said on Monday it plans to buy back another $2 billion in shares after reporting a strong set of quarterly profits thanks to higher interest rates that helped fatten margins for its lending business.

The London-based global bank, which earns most of its income in Asia, said it will carry out its latest share repurchase in the second half of the year, bringing the total amount since last year to $5.5 billion.

The bank said second-quarter net profit jumped by more than half to $3.87 billion as revenues grew faster than expenses.

For the first half of the year, net profit rose 10 per cent to $7 billion as revenue adjusted for currency fluctuations and oneoff gains and losses rose 0.8 per cent to $26.1 billion.

In Hong Kong, HSBC shares rallied on the news, rising 2.6 per cent to their highest in nearly three years. “We have made an excellent start to 2017,” chief executive Stuart Gulliver said in a statement. “Our three main global businesses performed well, generating significant increases in both reported and adjusted profit before tax, and gaining market share in many of the products that are central to our strategy.”

Chairman Douglas Flint said that as central bank interest rates edged higher, the bank “began to benefit from improved margins on our core deposit bases.”