HSBC said it was launching up to $2bn of share buybacks and a 10 cent-per-share dividend after profits surged in the first three months of the year.
The UK-based lender’s pre-tax profits jumped to $12.9bn, more than three times the figure from a year earlier.
The figure, up from $4.1bn, was partly due to a provisional gain of $1.5bn from its acquisition of the UK arm of collapsed lender Silicon Valley Bank in March.
HSBC also reversed $2.1bn of impairments linked to the planned sale of its French retail banking network to the private equity firm Cerberus, which is now at risk of being called off.
The boost to shareholders comes after HSBC’s largest investor, the Chinese insurer Ping An, ramped up its criticism of the lender.
Ping An has spent the past year calling for the bank to spin off its Asian operations and said last month it was “deeply concerned about HSBC”.
The lender is due to face shareholders at its annual general meeting in Birmingham on Friday.
“Our strong first quarter performance provides further evidence that our strategy is working,” said chief executive Noel Quinn.
“With the good momentum we have in our business, we expect to have substantial future distribution capacity for dividends and share buybacks.”
HSBC’s revenues rose 64 per cent to $20.2bn, fuelled by higher interest rates.
Its net interest margin — the difference between the interest it receives from making loans and the rate it pays out to depositors such as savings account holders — rose to 1.69 per cent.
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