HSBC Holdings announced a fresh stock buyback and raised its cost-cutting target as it reported second-quarter earnings that beat estimates.

The London-headquartered bank said it would purchase as much as US$1 billion of shares from holders as it reported a US$10.1 billion pretax profit for the three months through June, exceeding company-compiled estimate of US$9.5 billion.

Earnings were driven by US$2.6 billion in “notable items” as well as growth in banking and wealth income.

“We are executing our strategic priorities with pace, precision and discipline,” chief executive officer Georges Elhedery said in a statement. “This is allowing our four businesses to focus on their core strengths, grow, work together more effectively and deepen customer relationships.”

Since taking the helm, Elhedery has accelerated an overhaul of Europe’s largest bank through asset sales and operational simplification. HSBC now expects its restructuring effort to yield US$2 billion in total cost savings, up from an earlier target of US$1.5 billion.

The relaunch of the buyback programme comes after HSBC in October 2025 said it would pause stock repurchases for about three quarters after announcing it would take Hang Seng Bank private in a transaction worth about US$14 billion.

Shares of HSBC have touched record highs in recent weeks, recovering from a slump in June when investors were rattled by news of a fresh Chinese clampdown on cross-border capital flows. Beijing’s effort to curtail capital outflows triggered concerns over its impact on wealth management businesses.

The bank reported expected credit losses of US$1.1 billion, including charges related to the Hong Kong commercial real estate sector.

Elhedery has placed HSBC’s wealth unit at the centre of the bank’s transformation strategy, frequently highlighting the growing importance of Hong Kong as a regional wealth management hub.

On Jul 29, rival Standard Chartered reported better-than-estimated second-quarter profit and a record first-half performance driven by its expanding wealth business, allowing the lender to announce a new US$1 billion share buyback.

Downplaying the impact of China’s crackdown, StanChart chief executive officer Bill Winters told Bloomberg Television that the bank had seen “no discernible change” in business flows.

Still, Beijing’s actions have stoked fears that wealth growth could falter if citizens face greater restrictions when moving money offshore. Bloomberg Intelligence analysts estimate that, under a worst-case scenario, new money inflows could plunge as much as 30 per cent in 2026.

Late in July, HSBC agreed to sell its Singapore insurance unit to Allianz for S$2.7 billion (US$2.1 billion), and said it expected the disposal to generate a pretax gain of US$1.8 billion. BLOOMBERG