HSBC has reported a marginal dip in its pre-tax profits for the first quarter of the year.

The UK-headquartered lender saw profits before tax fall to $9.4 billion (£6.96 billion), down from $9.5 billion (£7 billion) a year earlier.

The bank attributed this decline to higher expected credit losses, other credit impairment charges, and a rise in operating expenses.

However, HSBC 's revenue climbed 6 per cent to $18.6 billion (£13.7 billion) compared with the opening quarter of 2025.

This growth was primarily driven by strong performance in its wealth management division and Hong Kong business segment.

“We continued to make positive progress in creating a simple, more agile, growing HSBC,” chief executive Georges Elhedery said.

“Each of our four businesses contributed to firm-wide revenue growth and each delivered an annualised RoTE in excess of 17 per cent, excluding notable items.”

HSBC said revenue reached £13.7 billion in the opening quarter of 2026 (Lucy North/PA) (PA Archive)

He added: “In periods…