HSBC warns over possible hit from Trump’s tariff war

HSBC on Tuesday warned the bank could suffer a single-digit percentage decline in revenue as a result of US president Donald Trump’s global tariff war, as well as an extra US$500 million in bad debts.

The warning comes despite the bank posting a forecast-beating first quarter profit.

Speaking to reporters during a global media call, the group’s chief executive officer, Georges Elhedery, noted that the group’s US-China customers have been particularly impacted by tariffs and that it saw a “significant drop in volumes along the US-China corridor”.

But he also stressed that he believes the higher tariffs will not end globalisation, but rather reconfigure it.

“So under reconfiguration of trade, we see two major trends taking place, ‘China + 1’ trend…as well as the genuine structural growth of the intra-regional trade, which is essentially taking place within the Asian-Middle East wider region,” he told reporters.

“While the first trend is going to be somewhat impacted by US tariffs…the intra-regional trade patterns are immune and are actually on the structural growth patterns,” he added.

Separately, the group stressed that it will not alter its restructuring plans amid uncertainties over higher tariffs, with the bank on track to deliver US$1.5 billion of annual savings by the end of next year, equivalent to about eight percent of total staff costs.

“We are moving at pace, but we have not committed to any amount of job cuts. We remain on track to make most of these decisions and the executions this year,” Elhedery said.

The group expects to incur severance and other upfront costs of US$1.8 billion over 2025 and 2026, in line with earlier estimates.

Elhedery also pointed out that the group will continue to expand its wealth management businesses in Asia, especially in Hong Kong, where he said “the outlook remains very strong”.