Banking: Assaf sets positive tone for HSBC

Lost amid disappointing 2016 results, HSBC’s Global Banking and Markets (GB&M) division has already hit the group 10% return on equity (ROE) target and holds out hope for more to come.

Samir Assaf-300

Samir Assaf, chief executive of GB&M
at HSBC

When HSBC published full-year 2016 results at the end of February, investors saw reported profits of $7.1 billion, much lower than the $18.9 billion reported for 2015, amid a $12 billion muddle of so-called exceptional items, including big goodwill write-offs, fair value own credit spread adjustments, restructuring costs and currency translation effects.

While underlying revenues were roughly flat and the bank remains sufficiently well capitalized – with a 13.6% CET1 ratio and 5.4%

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