Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive, said: “2025 was another year of strong momentum. We achieved an underlying return on tangible equity of 14.7%, exceeding our three-year plan a full year early. We have made a good start to the year and continue to benefit from a supportive business environment. We are seeing robust growth in our larger markets, and structural shifts in global trade and investment play to our distinctive strengths serving our clients’ cross-border and affluent banking needs. We have increased our full year dividend per share by 65% and are announcing a new share buyback of $1.5 billion.” Selected information on FY’25 financial performance with comparisons to FY’24 unless otherwise stated • Operating income of $20.9bn, up 6%; up 8% excluding notable items – Net interest income (NII) up 1% to $11.2bn – Non NII up 13% to $9.7bn, largely driven by Wealth Solutions, Global Banking and Global Markets – Wealth Solutions up 24% with double-digit growth in both Investment Products and Bancassurance – Global Banking up 15%, driven by higher origination and distribution volumes, and increased capital markets activity – Global Markets up 12%, mostly driven by flow income • Operating expenses up 4% to $12.3bn, driven by targeted investments for business growth partly offset by efficiency saves • Credit impairment charge of $676m; Wealth & Retail Banking (WRB) charge of $595m down $28m, mainly from unsecured portfolio optimisation. Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) charge of $4m was up $124m due to non-repeat of prior year releases • Restructuring and other charges of $937m include $531m related to the Fit for Growth programme • Underlying profit before tax of $7.9bn, up 18%; reported profit before tax of $7.0bn, up 18% • Return on Tangible Equity (RoTE) of 14.7%, up 300bps; Reported RoTE of 11.9% • Balance sheet remains strong, liquid and well diversified with underlying loans and advances to customers up 5% and underlying customer deposits up 12% • Risk-weighted assets (RWA) up $11bn to $258bn; Credit risk RWA up $2.8bn, Market risk RWA up $2.4bn, and Operational RWA up $5.7bn as the annual change is now recognised in Q4 instead of Q1 the subsequent year, resulting in two operational risk RWA increases in 2025 • The Group remains strongly capitalised with a Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio 14.1% (31.12.24: 14.2%) – $1.5bn share buyback starting imminently is expected to reduce CET1 ratio by approximately 58bps – Proposed final dividend of $1,092m or 49 cents per share will result in a full-year dividend of $1.38bn or 61 cents per share, up 65% • Underlying earnings per share (EPS) increased 37% or 61.6 cents to 229.7 cents; Reported EPS increased 38% or 54.1 cents to 195.4 cents • Tangible net asset value per share of $17.30 up 12% or 189 cents Selected information on Q4’25 financial performance with comparisons to Q4’24 unless otherwise stated • Operating income of $4.8bn broadly flat; up 3% excluding notable items and the reclassification – NII down 1% at ccy to $3.0bn, up 3% excluding the reclassification – Non NII up 1% to $1.9bn, up 2% excluding notable items; growth in Wealth Solutions and Global Banking partly offset by lower episodic income in Global Markets • Operating expenses of $3.4bn up 4%, up 7% excluding the reclassification • Credit impairment charge of $145m with $156m from WRB and a $46m net release in CIB • Underlying profit before tax of $1.2bn, up 19%. Outlook and guidance Building on the performance delivered in the year, the Group continues to expect client activity to be shaped by structural shifts in the global economy. These trends, which include a more multi-aligned world, increasing digitisation of money, and rising wealth participation in markets, are expected to persist. We will host a capital markets event in May of this year where we will describe how these trends position the Group for the next phase of growth, as well as detailing the expected financial outcomes. Our 2026 guidance is as follows: • Reported operating income growth year-on-year to be around the bottom end of 5-7 per cent range at constant currency – Within which, net interest income expected to be broadly flat year-on-year at constant currency • Reported cost to be broadly flat in constant currency including the final year of Fit for Growth charges • Statutory RoTE to be greater than 12 per cent Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker
