London
Bank HSBC will soon begin buying back $3bn of shares, taking its total stock repurchases for the year to $7bn, say Harry Wilson and Ambereen Choudhury on Bloomberg. CEO Noel Quinn suggests there may be more to come, despite a pre-tax profit of $7.7bn in the third quarter falling short of the $8.1bn analysts had expected. Still, that $7.7bn is “sufficiently robust” to absorb a $600m hit from selling securities in its bond portfolio with a view to reinvesting the proceeds in higher-yielding paper. The Asia-focused bank also set aside another $500m to cover possible losses on loans to mainland Chinese property groups, although its overall bad-debt charge for the quarter was little changed from a year ago. Quinn even predicted that the “major correction” in China’s property market is over. “Stiffer challenges” will come from the end to the benefits brought by higher interest rates, while costs are rising. So, it’s no surprise Quinn gave himself “a buffer” by setting undemanding full-year targets. Reaching net interest income of $35bn for 2023 is “hardly
