HSBC Holdings Q3 beats on revenue by $720M; profit drops 14%; updates FY outlook

* HSBC Holdings press release [https://www.hsbc.com/investors/results-and-announcements] (NYSE:HSBC [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/HSBC]): Q3 Non-GAAP EPS of $0.36.
* Revenue of $17.79B (+4.7% Y/Y) beats by $720M.
* The bank’s profit before tax for the three months ended in September was $7.3 billion, down nearly 14% from a year ago.
* Annualised return on average tangible equity in 3Q25 was 12.3%, compared with 15.5% in 3Q24. Excluding notable items, annualised RoTE in 3Q25 was 16.4%.
* Net interest income (‘NII‘) of $8.8bn increased by $1.1bn or 15% compared with 3Q24.
* Net interest margin (‘NIM’) of 1.57% increased by 11 basis points (‘bps‘) compared with 3Q24.
* Expected credit losses (‘ECL‘) of $1.0bn were stable compared with 3Q24.
* Customer lending balances increased by $1.2bn compared with 2Q25.
* Customer accounts increased by $18.6bn compared with 2Q25.
* Common equity tier 1 (‘CET1’) capital ratio of 14.5% decreased by 0.1 percentage points compared with 2Q25.
* The board has approved a third interim dividend for 2025 of $0.10 per share.
* "On 24 October, we completed the $3bn share buy-back announced at our interim results on 30 July 2025. "
* OUTLOOK – "We expect to deliver a mid-teens or better RoTE for 2025, excluding notable items."
* "We maintain confidence in our ability to deliver our mid-teens RoTE target, excluding notable items for 2026 and 2027."
* "We now expect banking NII of $43bn or better in 2025. We continue to expect ECL charges as a percentage of average gross loans to be around 40bps in 2025 (including loans held for sale balances). Target basis operating expense growth in 2025 compared with 2024 remains at approximately 3%."
* "While demand for lending remained muted in 9M25, we continue to expect mid-single digit percentage growth for year-on-year customer lending balances over the medium to long term. – We continue to expect double-digit percentage average annual growth in fee and other income in Wealth over the medium term."
* "We maintain our medium-term CET1 capital ratio target range of 14%–14.5%."
* We maintain our dividend payout ratio target basis of 50% for 2025, excluding material notable items and related impacts.

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