Best bank: HSBC
For HSBC, 2023 was an important year at its UK ring-fenced bank. This delivered its strongest set of results since it was created in 2018, with revenue coming in 36% higher than in 2022. That was in part thanks to higher rates and fat net interest margins, but also to key strategic decisions, such as to make growing market share in mortgages a priority.
AfE 2024
For all the outside pressure on the group board to spin off the rest of the world and concentrate on HSBC’s true home market, which is of course Asia, the UK bank contributed a vital 21% of the whole group’s profit before tax.
On a standalone basis, it performed exceptionally, with pre-tax profit in 2023 increasing by 84%. That number is somewhat flattered by the provisional gain on the acquisition of SVB UK.