HSBC Holdings PLC on Wednesday announced an interim chief financial officer as it announced as slight profit dip but anticipates net interest income will surge this year.

The London-based, Asia-focused bank said it appointed Global Financial Controller Jonathan Bingham as interim CFO from September 2, the same date that Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn will be replaced by current CFO Georges Elhedery.

‘Prior to joining HSBC in 2020, Jon worked for [accounting firm] KPMG LLP for 20 years, of which the final 10 years were as a banking partner, in which he led KPMG’s relationships with its large international banking clients,’ the firm said.

HSBC added that a process to identify the next permanent CFO is underway.

The lender on Wednesday said it plans a share buyback programme of up to $3 billion as it reported a slightly lower pretax profit amid a slump in net interest income.

HSBC posted a pretax profit of $21.56 billion for the first half of 2024, down 0.5% from $21.66 billion a year prior.

Revenue edged up 1.1% to $37.29 billion from $36.88 billion.

Net interest income fell 7.4% to $16.91 billion from $18.26 billion.

Operating expenses increased 5.4% to $16.30 billion from $15.46 billion.

Return on average tangible equity annualised edged down to 21% from 22% a year prior.

CEO Quinn said: ‘After delivering record profits in 2023, we had another strong profit performance in the first half of 2024, which is further evidence that our strategy is working. Our investment in Wealth is delivering higher, more diversified revenue and we continue to grow our core international and scale businesses, all of which helped us to provide $13.7 billion of distributions in respect of the first half. We are confident that we have the right strategy and model to grow revenue, even in a lower interest rate environment, and are therefore providing new guidance of a mid-teens return on average tangible equity in 2025.’

HSBC maintained its second interim dividend at 10 US cents per share, meaning the first half payout remained 20 cents, unchanged from a year before.

The bank’s common equity tier 1 ratio increased to 15.0% in the first half of 2024, up 0.2 percentage points compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.

This was driven by a reduction in risk-weighted assets. Despite the dip in profit, HSBC intends to initiate a share buyback programme of up to $3 billion, up 50% from the $2 billion announced a year prior. It expects to complete the new buyback within three months.

For 2024, HSBC targets net interest income of around $43 billion, dependent on the path of global interest rates. It would be 20% higher than $35.80 billion reported for 2023.

Further, the company reiterated its cost growth guidance of around 5% for 2024 compared to 2023.

HSBC shares were up 3.4% to 700.07 pence each on Wednesday morning in London.

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