At Last, an HSBC Wound That Isn't Self-Inflicted
As the coronavirus damage ebbs in Hong Kong and mainland China, the bank’s pivot to Asia may yet be vindicated.
There are worse places to be in the pandemic.
Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Getty Images
At least no one can blame HSBC Holdings Plc for the coronavirus. After a series of self-inflicted blows, from its muddled search for a new chief executive to a poorly received revamp, the bank joins the rest of the industry in being blindsided by the pandemic.
The London-based lender, which counts Hong Kong as its single largest market, took its biggest charge for bad debt in almost nine years and posted a 51% slump in first-quarter adjusted profit. Expected credit losses swelled to $3 billion in the period, almost double estimates, and could reach as much as $11 billion for the full year.