The European banking giant HSBC announced its annual financial results for 2025, which showed a 7.4% drop in pre-tax profit to $29.9 billion. This decline is primarily due to one-off charges, including legal provisions and restructuring costs, totaling $4.9 billion. Despite this, the bank managed to slightly exceed analyst consensus, and its market value surpassed £200 billion for the first time in history.
Decline in pre-tax profit
HSBC's pre-tax profit in 2025 amounted to $29.9 billion, representing a 7.4% decline compared to the record result from 2024.
One-off financial charges
The bank's result was negatively impacted by one-off items totaling $4.9 billion, including legal provisions and restructuring costs.
Exceeding market expectations
Despite the decline, the bank's profit turned out to be slightly higher than average analyst forecasts, which hovered around $28.9 billion.
Historic market value
HSBC's market value for the first time in history exceeded the threshold of 200 billion pounds, reflecting the bank's strong market position.
The European banking giant, HSBC Holdings Plc, headquartered in London but with key exposure to Asian markets, published its annual financial results for 2025. According to the report, the bank's pre-tax profit amounted to $29.9 billion US dollars. Compared to the very strong, record year of 2024, this represents a decline of 7.4%. In absolute terms, this drop reached $2.4 billion, which translates to approximately £1.8 billion in British pounds. The main cause of this deterioration in results was the negative impact of one-off items totaling $4.9 billion.
As reported by the bank, key components contributing to these charges included provisions for potential legal liabilities, costs related to the process of simplifying organizational structures, and the effects of the sale of the French asset portfolio. Despite a clear year-on-year profit decline, HSBC's 2025 result was assessed positively by the market, as it slightly exceeded average analyst expectations. The bank informed that the forecast consensus, which it compiled itself, was $28.9 billion. This exceeding of expectations, although small, was interpreted as a sign of the resilience of the bank's core business model to difficulties. At the same time, the bank raised its key financial target, suggesting management optimism about development prospects. HSBC, founded in 1865 in Hong Kong, developed for decades as a financial bridge between Europe and Asia. Its history is inextricably linked to British colonialism and the globalization of trade. After the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent money laundering scandals, the bank underwent deep restructuring, withdrawing from many markets to focus on Asia, especially China and Hong Kong. The announcement of the results was also accompanied by information about the bank reaching a valuation milestone. As reported by Bloomberg, HSBC's market value for the first time in its over 150-year history exceeded the level of £200 billion sterling. Converted to US dollars, this is equivalent to approximately $270 billion. This symbolic threshold reflects not only the size of the institution but also the restoration of investor confidence after years of regulatory and strategic challenges. The 2025 results thus present a mixed picture: on one hand, a profit decline caused by costly, one-off events; on the other – strong operational fundamentals allowing it to beat forecasts and a record market valuation testifying to the long-term strength of the brand.HSBC Financial Results 2024 vs 2025: Zysk przed opodatkowaniem 2024: 32.3, Zysk przed opodatkowaniem 2025: 29.9, Jednorazowe obciążenia 2025: -4.9200 mld £ — HSBC's market value for the first time in history