HSBC transaction-banking income rises 4% as trade patterns shift

HSBC increased fee and other income from Wholesale Transaction Banking by 4% on a constant-currency basis during the first half of 2026, as corporate customers adapted financing and payment arrangements to changing trade and investment patterns.

The bank identified transaction banking as one of the contributors to its wider increase in fee and other income. Group pre-tax profit rose by 23% to US$19.5bn, while revenue increased by 11% to US$37.7bn.

Second-quarter pre-tax profit increased by 60% to US$10.1bn and revenue reached US$19.1bn. HSBC said quarterly revenue grew within Wholesale Transaction Banking, although it did not provide a separate second-quarter revenue figure for the division.

The bank linked the first-half performance to companies responding to new networks of trade and investment. Chief executive Georges Elhedery said customers increasingly required a combination of financing, payments and markets capabilities across borders as manufacturers reorganised supply chains and businesses entered new markets.

Customer lending increased by US$40bn on a constant-currency basis from the end of 2025, with growth across all business segments. Customer accounts rose by US$56bn on the same basis, driven principally by Corporate and Institutional Banking.

HSBC also disclosed that it had expanded its tokenised-deposit services into the US and the United Arab Emirates, taking the capability to six markets. The bank said the service was intended to support real-time, round-the-clock movement of money across borders, although it did not disclose first-half transaction volumes or client adoption figures.

The transaction-banking result is commercially relevant because it suggests that disruption to established trade corridors is generating demand for cross-border liquidity, payment and treasury services rather than simply reducing activity. That interpretation is consistent with HSBC’s description of customers reshaping supply chains and combining more of the bank’s capabilities.

However, the 4% figure covers fee and other income across Wholesale Transaction Banking. The results release does not split the increase between trade finance, cash management, payments or other products, so it should not be presented as a 4% increase in trade-finance revenue alone.

The newly released performance figures form the news development. HSBC’s US$400m fraud-related securitisation provision was disclosed in its first-quarter results in May and is not a new event for this article.