HSBC Holdings’ pretax profit rose 32 per cent to $9.6 billion in the third quarter, the global bank said today.

But the parent company of HSBC Bermuda saw its shares plunge 5.4 per cent on the London Stock Exchange after the bank fell short of its $9.7 billion profit expectation.

The group reported $11.9 billion of banking income from interest, also missing estimates.

Financial results specifically for HSBC Bermuda were not available.

The bank falls within scope of the corporate income tax, a 15 per cent levy on the Bermuda-generated profits of multinational companies with global revenues of at least 750 million euros (approximately $835 million).

In 2025, HSBC Bermuda posted profits of $295 million and booked a tax expense of more than $44 million.

Globally, the bank booked a $2.061 billion tax charge for the third quarter.

Since the appointment of Georges Elhedery as chief executive officer two years ago, HSBC has undergone a major overhaul, offloading and shutting many business lines and letting go thousands of staff around the world, as it looks to focus on its core Asian businesses.

Given the increase in interest rates in several major economies, the tumble in HSBC’s share price also reflects investor disappointment that HSBC did not lift its estimate for banking net interest income for 2026, which remained at least $46 billion.

Bloomberg reported analysts saying net interest income was a weak point for the bank in the third quarter. Goldman Sachs Group analysts Chris Hallam and Melissa Kuang calling it “slightly disappointing.” They added that “benefit from the improved rate backdrop may be less than we had anticipated.”

On an earnings call with journalists, chief financial officer Pam Kaur said: “In a high interest rate environment, there’s sometimes a market expectation that we upgrade guidances or we change our targets.”

HSBC said wealth customer inflows jumped $41 billion in the reported period from a year ago, compared with a $25 billion rise in the second quarter. Earnings also received a boost from lower-than-expected credit losses.

Operating expenses fell by 12 per cent to $8.8 billion. The bank benefited from the non-recurrence of $1.4 billion of legal provisions in the prior-year quarter. Excluding one-time items, expenses rose mainly due to inflation, higher planned technology spending, and the timing of performance-pay accruals, partially offset by savings from the restructuring, the bank said.

HSBC announced plans to buy back $1 billion of its own shares.

The group has been offloading noncore businesses, including the sale of its Singapore insurance unit to Allianz SE, and the agreed sale of its retail and wealth assets in Indonesia to Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp.

The bank is also reviewing selective assets in Turkey, and has announced the sale of its retail banking business in Egypt.