HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:HSBA) interims mark the swansong of Noel Quinn as chief executive so there shouldn’t be any nasty surprises.
Quinn departs on 2 September with Georges Elhedery, its current chief financial officer, promoted to the CEO role.
No change in tone or style is expected from the new man with Elhedery widely tipped beforehand as the heir to Quinn
Whether such internal promotions are still right given the pressures of HSBC’s Asia focus and scrutiny of its lending, to fossil fuel companies for example, remains to be seen.
Shore Capital said the move "follows HSBC’s normal route of promoting from within when it comes to CEO appointments and, while this approach brings continuity, it does not bring the sort of fresh insight that an external appointment might", the analysts added.
Barclays PLC (LSE:BARC) will also see plenty of attention on its overseas activities, especially its investment bank where US rivals posted punchy numbers in the recent bulge bracket bank season.
Goldman Sachs saw revenues jump 150% while JP Morgan posted a record-breaking second quarter as deal-making picked up.
Whether Barclays’s investment bank, which is a big chunk of the former Lehman Bros, can match that remains to be seen but analysts are upbeat on its prospects.
The bank has already said it wants to return £3bn to shareholders this year (9% of market cap), and at least £10bn over the period 2024-26.
That would put Barclays on a 13% distribution yield in 2026, estimates UBS, or among the top five in the European bank sector.
UBS is forecasting full-year profits of £6.8 billion from Barclays on income of £25.8 billion.