HSBC bankers to share $3.9bn bonus pot, the highest in more than a decade
Bankers at HSBC are set to share a bonus pot worth $3.9bn (£2.9bn), the highest in more than a decade, after Europe’s largest lender reported better-than-expected annual results.The bonus pool for staff was 10% higher than a year earlier, which the bank said it had determined “based on a review of our performance against financial and non-financial metrics”, while the bank’s chief executive’s pay also rose.It came as Georges Elhedery, who took over as the CEO in 2024, signalled that his sweeping turnaround of the lender was drawing to a close.
Elhedery said the London-headquartered bank, which makes most of its profits in Asia, was “becoming a simple, more agile, focused bank built for a fast-changing world”.Elhedery received £6.6m in 2025, up 18% from a year earlier.HSBC’s pre-tax profit slipped by 7% to $29.9bn in 2025, although this was still $1bn higher than forecast by City analysts and followed on from an unusually strong 2024.
It came as the bank also faced $4.9bn in one-off charges last year.The bank’s London-listed shares rose by 5% during morning trading on Wednesday.Elhedery, a career HSBC veteran, announced an overhaul of the bank when he took the reins and looked to save $1.5bn in costs.
The bank said on Wednesday it was on track to achieve the savings six months earlier than planned,Elhedery has shaken up the lender by reorganising operating divisions along east-west lines, shedding smaller investment banking units in the US and Europe, and slashing the ranks of senior managers,Those efforts helped its London-listed stock soar by 50% in 2025 and it has climbed another 10% for the year to date to give the bank a market value of about $300bn,HSBC took its subsidiary Hang Seng Bank private in a $13,7bn deal last year.
It said on Wednesday that their combined banking operations would target $900m in pre-tax revenue and cost synergies by the end of 2028, but there would also be $600m restructuring costs.HSBC said it was raising its target for return on tangible equity, a key measure of profitability for banks, to “17% or better” through 2028, up from its “mid-teens” target set for the three years through 2027.Last year it came in at 13.3%.Charges incurred last year included a $2.
1bn write-off related to its holdings in China’s Bank of Communications, which had been hurt in part by the long downturn in China’s property sector.That led to pre-tax profit for its mainland China business tumbling 66% to $1.1bn.The bank also logged legal provisions worth $1.4bn as well as $1bn of restructuring and related costs.
The bank also said it would pay a final dividend of 45 cents a share, adding to 30 cents granted earlier in the year.That was, however, below the 87 cents paid in total for 2024.Analysts at Jefferies said investors were likely to welcome the strong results but may question its forecast of just a 1% rise in costs for 2026 given the competitive environment and need to invest in AI technology.In December, HSBC appointed the former KPMG partner Brendan Nelson as its chair after a prolonged search process that left it without a permanent executive in the top role for months.Reuters contributed to this report
US men’s hockey team visit White House as some players with Minnesota ties stay away
The victorious US Olympic men’s ice hockey team visited the White House on Tuesday, although there were several notable absences.Donald Trump invited the team to celebrate in Washington DC after they beat Canada in a dramatic Olympic final on Sunday. He also invited the US women’s team, who declined citing “timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments”.“I recognize every one of you. I know every one of you,” Trump said as he welcomed the players to the Oval Office
Harry Brook relieved to lead England into last four after ‘the hardest winter of my life’
Sometimes Harry Brook makes everything look easy but some of his recent experiences have been anything but painless, and after scoring a sublime century to steer his team into the World Cup semi-finals England’s white-ball captain described his past few months as “probably the hardest of my life”.Brook endured a disappointing Ashes, scoring just two half-centuries and averaging 39.77, his second-worst in a Test series in which he has played more than a single innings. It was towards the end of his time in Australia that it was revealed he had got in to a drunken altercation with a nightclub bouncer in Wellington on the eve of the final fixture of his first overseas tour as an international captain, a controversy which has dogged him since.“It’s probably been the hardest winter of my life to be honest,” he said in Pallekele, after England had secured victory against Pakistan and the two points they needed to claim a place in the final four
England edge past Pakistan: T20 Cricket World Cup Super 8s – as it happened
The pull goes to the fence for four and that completes a fine performance from England, their best of the tournament so far.Aha, here’s Simon Burnton’s match report……which means we’re done here. Thanks all for your company and comments; peace out.Brook, giving a second interview, says he was moved up the order because they wanted to make more of the powerplay and he goes after it. He’d been thinking about it for a while, not just for internationals but franchise cricket too, and when Baz said “Pakistan are your team,” he was up for it
Harry Brook’s 50-ball century blazes England past Pakistan into T20 World Cup semi-finals
For all their faults and frailties, their fluffs and fumbles, England are also the first team to secure a place in the World Cup semi-finals, their spot secured by victory over Pakistan and by the sensational Harry Brook century that drove them towards it.After coming in just one ball into the innings and watching the rest of England’s top five falter, England’s captain transformed a crisis into what, for all that a couple of late wickets got the nerves jangling, became something approaching a cruise.Brook fell to the last ball of the 17th over, the first after he had completed his century off his 50th delivery. Several Pakistan players ran towards him to shake his hand as he left the field, and soon they were shaking hands again: having come to the crease, promoted for the first time to No 3, before England had even taken a nibble into their target of 165, Brook departed with them needing 10 off 18. Though Will Jacks and Jamie Overton both fell in the penultimate over to give Pakistan the faintest sniff of renewed hope, England got there with five remaining to win by two wickets
US hockey was bathed in a golden Olympic glow. Then Donald Trump and Kash Patel stepped in | Beau Dure
Keeping politics at arm’s length for the US men’s hockey team’s gold-medal matchup with Canada was always going to be difficult.The game fell on the 46th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice, when an underdog group of US college players upset the mighty Soviet Union team against the backdrop of the cold war. But the US team who took the ice on Sunday were no plucky band of amateurs making a stand for democracy against authoritarianism – a point underscored when the US and Canada met last year in the 4 Nations Face-Off. Canadian fans booed the Star-Spangled Banner and the US players, either unaware of, or unsympathetic to, Canadian desires to be neither the 51st US state nor the USA’s opponent in a scorched-earth trade war, dropped the gloves to fight their opponents as soon as the game commenced.Sunday’s game, though, was played with the utmost sportsmanship – and not just because Olympic rules punish fighting harshly
‘I felt tears welling in my eyes’: our readers’ Winter Olympics highlights
The magic, joy, tension, camaraderie and superhuman composure on show in Italy captivated readersMy favourite moment of the Winter Olympics was Johan Olav-Botn winning gold in the men’s individual biathlon, just a month after the death of his teammate and close friend, Sivert Bakken. Olav-Botn displayed superhuman composure – a prerequisite for anyone competing in biathlon – and he did not shut out the thought of his friend when under the highest pressure. Olav-Botn said that he “felt I was racing with him” on his last lap. To remain skiing and shooting, let alone standing, with that in mind is a feat of mental fortitude worthy of any Olympic gold. I felt tears welling in my eyes when he skied past the finish line and shouted: “Sivert, we did it!” Max Sundsbo, 22, LondonThe superb snow sports commentary from Ed Leigh and Tim Warwood
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