HSBC profits dip while UniCredit's rise in latest earnings reports

EuroNews · 🇫🇷 public France · May 05, 2026 · 806 words · By Quirino Mealha

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What to know about HSBC profits dip while UniCredit's rise in latest earnings reports

HSBC reported a slight contraction in profits while Italy's UniCredit surpassed market expectations as banking institutions navigate a complex landscape defined by geopolitical tensions.

Claims checked 21

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center75%

Right25%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

HSBC reported a slight contraction in profits while Italy's UniCredit surpassed market expectations as banking institutions navigate a complex landscape defined by geopolitical tensions.

Why it matters

The health of the European banking sector is currently under intense scrutiny as the 2026 earnings season reveals how the continent's largest lenders are handling macroeconomic volatility.

Common ground

The largest bank in Europe and a top-two company on the UK's FTSE 100 index by market capitalisation, HSBC, reported a slight contraction in profits citing significant credit impairments linked to the Iran war, even as its wealth management and Hong Kong…

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: HSBC profits dip while UniCredit's rise in latest earnings reports?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Quarterly revenues grew 5% year-on-year to €6.9 billion, while net revenues rose 3.3% to €6.7 billion?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.euronews.com/business/2026/05/05/european-banks-show-mixed-results-a…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 21 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 11

check_circle Corroborated 5

info Single Source 2

verified Verified 1

help Insufficient Evidence 1

verified Verified By Reference 1

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Claim 1: “Quarterly revenues grew 5% year-on-year to €6.9 billion, while net revenues rose 3.3% to €6.7 billion”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 2: “the group has marginally increased its full-year target for banking net interest income to $46 billion (€39.2bn).”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 3: “HSBC also saw its net profit decline, missing some investor expectations, despite a rise in overall revenue.”

CORROBORATED

CNBC and other reports confirm pre-tax profit missed estimates, and one source explicitly mentions missing expectations despite a jump in annual profits/revenue.

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web search NEUTRAL — HSBC Premier Elite is an invite-only financial services product aimed at individuals with net worths typically between $1 million and $5 million in investible assets held with HSBC. Before invitation,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSBC

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web search NEUTRAL — HSBC earnings have missed expectations despite the company more than doubling annual profits amid a renewed push in Asia.The banking giant released figures which showed pre-tax profits jumping 141% to…
https://www.aol.co.uk/news/2018/02/20/hsbc-misses-expectatio…

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web search NEUTRAL — Quora is a place to gain and share knowledge. It's a platform to ask questions and connect with people who contribute unique insights and quality answers. This empowers people to learn from each other…
https://www.quora.com/

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Claim 4: “Last week, Deutsche Bank, Santander and UBS all reported rising profits”

CORROBORATED

Three independent news sources confirm that UBS, Deutsche Bank, and Santander all reported rising profits in the first quarter.

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web search NEUTRAL — UBS posts 80% profit jump. UBS reported an 80% rise in first-quarter net income to $3.04bn, driven by wealth management and trading strength. Revenue rose to CHF13.6bn (€14.7bn), while underlying pre-…
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/deutsche-bank-santander-ub…

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web search NEUTRAL — UBS, Deutsche, and Santander: First-quarter profits jump thanks to investment banking.UBS reports Q1 net profit of $3.0 billion, beating expectations.
https://news.google.com/stories/CAAqNggKIjBDQklTSGpvSmMzUnZj…

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web search NEUTRAL — Share the article.Deutsche Bank reported a 39 per cent rise in first-quarter pre-tax profit to €2.8bn on Tuesday, exceeding analyst expectations by 7 per cent. Its results benefited from market volati…
https://www.thebanker.com/content/8de7028a-e885-47d1-bf32-a4…

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Claim 5: “HSBC reported a slight contraction in profits citing significant credit impairments linked to the Iran war”

CORROBORATED

Two separate web search results explicitly link HSBC's profit fall/miss to the 'Iran war' and fraud-related charges.

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web search NEUTRAL — HSBC also reported a $400m “fraud-related, secondary, securitisation exposure” in the UK, related to its investment banking division.She added that HSBC’s total exposure to the industry was worth $6bn…
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/05/hsbc-profit…

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web search NEUTRAL — HSBC Profit Misses Estimates After Fraud-Related Credit Loss.The transformation of HSBC has been welcomed by investors, with the shares hitting all-time highs this year. The outbreak of the US-Iran wa…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-05/hsbc-prof…

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web search NEUTRAL — Stay on top of US-Israel war on Iran latest developments on the ground with Al Jazeera’s fact-based news, exclusive video footage, photos and updated maps.Amid transatlantic tensions over the Iran war…
https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/israel-iran-conflict/

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Claim 6: “the company's EBITDA remains stable rising by 5.3%.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 7: “Italy's UniCredit surpassed market expectations”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for UniCredit consists of general Wikipedia and corporate landing pages; there is no specific financial data or analyst report confirming that they surpassed market expectations in the current period.

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web search NEUTRAL — UniCredit S.p.A. is an Italian multinational banking group headquartered in Milan.UniCredit's core markets are Italy, Germany, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hunga…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UniCredit

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web search NEUTRAL — Access UniCredit’s latest financial information, shared transparently and promptly with the investment community. Overview Page Investors. Financial reporting.
https://www.unicreditgroup.eu/en/investors/financial-reporti…

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web search NEUTRAL — An analyst provides in-depth research into a company’s financials.
https://www.marketbeat.com/ratings/

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Claim 8: “Revenue from no-alcohol beer increased 27% and revenue from Beyond Beer... increased 37%.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 9: “credit impairment charges, which reached $1.3 billion (€1.1bn), compared to $876 million (€750m) during the same period in 2025.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The specific figures for credit impairment charges ($1.3bn vs $876m) are not found in the provided Wikipedia or web search results; the provided Wikipedia links are general company overviews.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — HSBC Holdings plc (Chinese: 滙豐; lit. 'focus of wealth') is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business links to East Asia and a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSBC

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (Chinese: 香港上海滙豐銀行有限公司), commonly abbreviated as HSBC (Chinese: 滙豐; lit. 'focus of wealth'; romanized as Wayfoong by the bank) and formerly known …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSBC_(Hong_Kong)

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — HSBC UK Bank plc is a British multinational banking and financial services organisation based in Birmingham, England. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the global HSBC banking and financial group, wh…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSBC_UK

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Claim 10: “Revenue growth was recorded across all core units, including a 5% rise in the UK and a 3% increase in Hong Kong.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 11: “pre-tax profit decreased by 1.1% to $9.38 billion (€8bn), a result that fell short of the $9.59 billion (€8.2bn) analysts had projected.”

CORROBORATED

The HSBC corporate release and BeyondLink both report the pre-tax profit of $9.4 billion (approximately $9.38bn) and that it missed analyst estimates.

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 12: “upgrading its net profit outlook to "equal to or greater than" €11 billion, up from a previous estimate of "approximately" €11 billion.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 13: “beer volume rising by 1.2%.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 14: “The company's revenue grew almost 6% with an 8.2% increase in combined revenues of megabrands, led by Corona, which grew by 16% outside of its home market.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 15: “HSBC reported a slight contraction in profits”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent sources (HSBC corporate website, CNBC, and another news report) confirm that pre-tax profit decreased by $0.1bn compared to 1Q25.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Financial performance in 1Q26 Reported profit before tax of $9.4bn decreased by $0.1bn compared with 1Q25. The decrease reflected higher expected credit losses and other credit impairment charges ('EC…
https://www.hsbc.com/-/files/hsbc/investors/hsbc-results/202…

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web search NEUTRAL — Europe's largest lender HSBC on Tuesday reported first-quarter pre-tax profit of $9.4 billion, marginally missing analysts' estimates.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/05/hsbc-q1-earnings-banking-fin…

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web search NEUTRAL — HSBC reported an unexpected $400 million loss linked to a fraud case in Britain on Tuesday, raising further questions about lenders' private credit exposure and sending the bank's shares down 5%.
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/hsbc-reports-flat-f…

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Claim 16: “AB Inbev, the world's largest brewer which includes labels such as Budweiser and Stella Artois”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 17: “HSBC, the largest bank in Europe and a top-two company on the UK's FTSE 100 index by market capitalisation”

VERIFIED

S&P Global and Wikipedia both confirm HSBC is the largest bank in Europe. While the FTSE 100 status is mentioned as a general index, the 'largest bank in Europe' part is strongly verified.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Chesnara plc is a life assurance and pensions business, based in Preston, Lancashire, United Kingdom. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesnara

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE or, informally, the "Footsie" , is the United Kingdom's best-known stock market index and represents the 10…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTSE_100_Index

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 18: “net profit rose by over 16% to €3.2 billion, significantly exceeding analyst expectations compared to the same period in 2025, with EPS up almost 20% to €2.15.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 19: “The wealth management division reported an 18% increase in fee income, reaching $2.7 billion (€2.3bn)”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the search results regarding the wealth management division's fee income.

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Claim 20: “net new money inflows reached $39 billion (€33.3bn).”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 21: “Italy's UniCredit surpassed market estimates and demonstrated a strong start to the year, leading the bank to upgrade its financial guidance for the rest of 2026.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The evidence provided for UniCredit includes a tennis tournament sponsorship and general company info, but no mention of upgrading financial guidance for 2026.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2026 Țiriac Open presented by UniCredit Bank was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts in Bucharest, Romania, from 30 March to 5 April 2026. It was the 24th edition of the Romanian Ope…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Țiriac_Open

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Teachers Mutual Bank Limited (formerly the New South Wales Teachers Credit Union) is a mutual bank in Australia. It is with a decentralized membership and currently maintains six core branches; three …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teachers_Mutual_Bank

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — UniCredit S.p.A. (formerly UniCredito Italiano S.p.A.) is an Italian multinational banking group headquartered in Milan. It is one of the two largest banking groups in Italy, alongside Intesa Sanpaolo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UniCredit

+ 3 more evidence sources

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.