HSBC just reported its 2025 full-year results. Profit fell 7.4%, shares hit a record high, and the bank raised its targets for three straight years. That’s the headline most will run. But dig deeper, and there’s a more interesting story playing out, one that’s been quietly building in Hong Kong and is now going global.

HSBC 2025 Earnings: Profit Dip Masks Strong Underlying Growth

HSBC reported a pretax profit of $29.9bn for the full year 2025, down from $32.3bn in 2024. The drop was driven largely by notable items: $2.1bn in dilution and impairment losses tied to BoCom, $1.4bn in legal provisions, and $1bn in restructuring costs. Strip those out, and the underlying story is actually strong.

The bank beat its own analyst estimate of…