Company: HBCYF
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001089113-25-000040
Chunk: 28

Company: HSBC HOLDINGS PLC
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: 20-F
Chunk 28
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 fellow shareholders, The opportunity to lead HSBC is a privilege. Even more so as we celebrate our 160th anniversary. Like each of my predecessors, I see my responsibility as delivering sustainable strategic growth for our shareholders. This begins by putting our customers at the centre of everything we do. Our financial strength, international network, heritage, and brand mean we build upon firm foundations. We look to the future with confidence. We begin from a position of strength, which is reinforced by our 2024 performance. During the year, we delivered a return on average tangible equity (‘RoTE’) of 14.6%. This includes several notable items, in particular related to strategic disposals. Excluding these, our RoTE was 16.0%, achieving our ‘mid-teens’ target. Our common equity tier 1 (‘CET1’) capital ratio was 14.9%, reflecting our long-standing financial strength. With our continued focus on cost discipline, we managed cost growth on our target basis of around 5%, which was in line with our targeted cost growth. This strong performance enabled us to announce $26.9 billion in returns to our shareholders through dividends and share buy-backs, which we expect to remain central to our strategy. Simple, more agile, focused The world in which we operate is changing quickly. We are adapting to help our customers navigate new complexities. By doing so, we will open up a world of opportunity as we serve their needs, delivering on our strategy. Since assuming the role in September, I have focused on injecting energy and intent into the way we deliver our strategy. We are being more agile in the way we allocate our resources and invest to prepare for the future. That includes retiring non-strategic assets and embracing the productive power of new technologies and tools to modernise HSBC and enhance the way we serve our customers. We have renewed vigour in finding the efficiencies that will optimise our resource allocation, be that geographical, business line or balance sheet. This will enhance the way we actively and dynamically manage costs and capital, and target investments. We will be guided by three overarching priorities: – Focus on our customers, delivering high levels of satisfaction; – Drive long-term growth by focusing on our strengths, increasing our leadership and market share in the areas where we can generate attractive returns; – Simplify our structure and operating model. Reshape and rationalise our portfolio, to meet the needs of a fast-changing world. To achieve this, I have put in place a smaller, core team