By Sherry Qin


HSBC Holdings announced plans for a new $2.0 billion share buyback, coming after impairments pushed its bottom line to a loss in the latest quarter.

The Asia-focused lender said Wednesday that it swung to a loss of $153 million in the fourth quarter, compared with a profit of $4.38 billion a year ago, as it booked a $3.0 billion impairment loss related to its investment in Bank of Communications. Analysts expected a profit of $2.80 billion, according to Visible Alpha consensus.

Pre-tax profit fell to $977 million from $5.05 billion a year ago, missing a consensus estimate of $4.55 billion.

Net interest income in the quarter slipped to $8.28 billion from $8.99 billion a year ago, missing a consensus estimate of $9.03 billion.

HSBC said it would buy back up to $2 billion in shares, which the bank expects to complete by its first-quarter 2024 results announcement.


Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-20-24 2342ET