HSBC’s pre-tax profits fell 80 per cent year on year in the final three months of 2023 as it took a $3bn charge on the value of its stake in China’s Bank of Communications, the lender said on Wednesday.Profits for the fourth quarter declined to $1bn from $5bn a year earlier, the lender said. Its pre-tax profits for the full year rose 78 per cent to $30bn, as higher interest rates buoyed the lender, but missed analysts’ expectations of $34bn.

HSBC said the BoCom impairment was “in line with recent market-wide developments in mainland China” but that BoCom “remains a strong partner”. The UK-based lender, which holds a 19 per cent stake in the Chinese bank, said its “positive views on the medium- and long-term structural growth opportunities in mainland China are unchanged”.

HSBC’s Hong Kong-listed shares fell as much as 3.8 per cent on Wednesday after the earnings release.