A consensus-beating set of half-year figures from HSBC were not a sharp enough riposte to calls from Ping An, its largest shareholder, for a demerger of its core Asian operations. Ping An credits the revenue growth to “the brief interest rate hike cycle” rather than restructuring efforts, a source close to the shareholder, says. They have got a point, but a demerger would be no silver bullet in boosting the shares’ rating, either.
Rising interest rates laid the foundations for an increase to guidance for this year and next by the bank. A tightening in monetary policy by the Federal Reserve already helped boost the net interest margin by 9 basis points to 1.30 per cent over the first half.
HSBC expects to increase lending
