HSBC quarterly profits more than double after interest rate rises

theguardian.com:

HSBC has increased bonus payouts for its chief executive after fourth-quarter profits more than doubled on the back of a jump in mortgage and loan costs for its borrowers.

The London-headquartered lender said it had increased Noel Quinn’s bonus by 36% to nearly $2.2m (£1.8m), taking his overall pay to $5.5m for 2022. That compares with his $4.9m payout in 2021.

The strong performance in the final three months of 2022 also means HSBC is planning its highest annual shareholder payout in four years – worth 32 cents a share – as it tries to appease its largest investor, Ping An, and stave off further calls to split off the more profitable Asian business.

HSBC, which makes the bulk of its profits in Asia, reported $5.2bn in pre-tax profit for the last three months of 2022, more than double the $2.5bn it reported for the same period a year earlier.

That was partly because of “strong growth” in net interest income, which accounts for the difference in the amount paid out to savers compared with the amount charged for loans and mortgages. The lender has benefited from the rise in interest rates across most of the 62 countries and territories in which it operates, including the UK, as central banks have tried to curb inflation caused by the war in Ukraine. It has led lenders to increase borrowing costs for their customers.

On an annual basis, HSBC’s profits fell 7% to $17.5bn because of a $2.4bn charge linked to the sale of its retail banking network in France.

The overall annual bonus pool for HSBC’s top-performing bankers fell 4% to £3.4bn.

HSBC made multimillion-pound payouts to its highest-earning bankers, with 429 receiving more than €1m (£888,000) in 2022. Fourteen were paid more than €5m each, while one unidentified banker was