There may be a sense of poignancy when Europe’s biggest bank HSBC (HSBA) reports full-year earnings next week as for several hundred staff it will be the last call.

At the end of January, the company informed managers in its UK, European and US corporate advisory and equity underwriting teams it was closing down operations as it finally gave up chasing a place at investment banking’s top table.

While HSBC may stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Wall Street rivals such as JPMorgan Chase (JPM:NYSE) and Goldman Sachs (GS:NYSE) in debt issuance, in M&A and equity underwriting it was never more than a bit-part player ranking outside the top 20 in US M&A and just 15th in underwriting.

The cuts are part of new chief executive Georges Elhedery’s plan to slash some $3 billion from HSBC’s annual cost base, which has already seen the board reduced by around a third and a reorganisation into four distinct businesses.

Partly thanks to the cutbacks, Elhedery – like his counterpart CS Venkatakrishnan at Barclays (BARC) – could be in for a nice pay rise, as the board mulls new UK rules allowing a larger proportion of remuneration to come from variable performance awards.

In terms of numbers, analysts are forecasting a 1% drop in revenue to $65.2 billion but a 4% increase in pre-tax profit to $31.7 billion.

The banking net interest margin is expected to be around 1.5% from 1.66% the previous year, while provisions for expected credit losses are seen dipping to $3.1 billion and return on tangible equity is seen at 14.4% against 14.6% previously.

Given the bank has almost completed the $3 billion share buyback announced with the third quarter results, investors will be expecting a new buyback programme along with refreshed financial targets for 2025 and 2026. 

UK UPDATES OVER THE NEXT 7 DAYS

FULL-YEAR RESULTS

14 Feb: NatWest, Segro

17 Feb: Mony Group

18 Feb: Antofagasta, InterContinental Hotels Group

19 Feb: BAE Systems, Conduit Holdings, Glencore, HSBC

20 Feb: Anglo American, Centrica, Indivior, Lloyds Banking, Mondi

FIRST-HALF RESULTS

17 Feb: Wilmington

20 Feb: Hays

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