Share buybacks at HSBC, strong earnings and, more recently, promises of an overhaul have been enough to lift its share price by about a quarter in the past year. But long-term investors have heard it all before. They have become all too familiar with grand global restructuring announcements from the lender over the past decade and more. New chief executive Georges Elhedery will need to prove his promises are different to maintain HSBC’s rally.

Third-quarter results helped to get his tenure off to a good start. Profit at the London-headquartered, Asia-focused bank rose a tenth year on year to $8.5bn, beating expectations, as sales in wealth and wholesale banking rose. Its common equity tier one capital ratio rose 0.2 percentage points to 15.2 per cent from the previous quarter. Customer accounts increased, mainly in Hong Kong.

Elhedery has drawn up plans to control costs and improve efficiency to boost earnings. He announced last week he would merge HSBC’s commercial banking unit with its global banking and markets business and split its geographic footprint into east and west. Its UK and Hong Kong businesses will form two of four new standalone units.