HSBC targets RoTE in mid-teens for 2023, 2024

The company said, “Our strategy has enabled us to further strengthen our balance sheet, providing us with a good platform for growth in the current interest rate cycle, while maintaining cost discipline. This has given us the confidence to revise our returns guidance for 2023 and 2024. Based on the current path implied by the market for global policy rates, we are now targeting a RoTE in the mid-teens for 2023 and 2024, which excludes the impact of material acquisitions and disposals. Given the current market consensus for global central bank rates, we have raised our 2023 full-year guidance for net interest income to above $35bn. While the interest rate outlook remains positive, we expect continued migration to term deposits as short-term interest rates rise. We continue to expect ECL charges of around 40bps of average gross loans in 2023. There remains a degree of uncertainty in the forward economic outlook, particularly in the UK, and we are monitoring risks related to our exposures in mainland China’s commercial real estate sector. Over the medium to long term, we continue to use a range of 30bps to 40bps of average loans for planning our ECL charges. We remain highly focused on maintaining cost discipline. We continue to target operating expense growth of approximately 3% for 2023, excluding the impact of foreign currency translation differences, notable items and the impact of retranslating the 2022 results of hyperinflationary economies at constant currency. Our target also excludes the impact of our acquisition of SVB UK, and the related investments internationally, which are expected to add approximately 1% to the Group’s operating expenses. In 2Q23, we incurred severance costs of $0.2bn, with the benefits expected to be realised towards the end of 2023 and into 2024. We intend to manage the CET1 ratio within our medium term target range of 14% to 14.5%, and we aim to manage this range down in the long term. In addition, our dividend payout ratio is 50% for 2023 and 2024, excluding material notable items. We have announced a second interim dividend of $0.10 per share and intend to initiate a further share buy-back of up to $2bn, which we expect to commence shortly and complete within three months. Further buy-backs for 2023 and beyond will be subject to appropriate capital levels.”