Silicon Valley Bank: HSBC says UK buyout boosted profit by $1.5bn

Banking giant HSBC says its profits got a $1.5bn (£1.2bn) boost from the purchase of collapsed Silicon Valley Bank's British business (SVB UK).

Europe's biggest bank posted a pre-tax profit of $12.9bn for the three months to the end of March.

That is more than three times the amount it made for the same time last year.

In March, HSBC bought SVB UK for a nominal £1 ($1.25), in a deal led by the government and the Bank of England.

The London-headquartered lender said the profit included a "provisional gain of $1.5bn on the acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank UK Limited".

"We remain focused on continuing to improve our performance and maintaining tight cost discipline, but we also saw an opportunity to invest in SVB UK to accelerate our growth plans," group chief executive Noel Quinn said.

The bank also got a boost from the reversal of its plan to write-off $2.1bn due to the sale of its French business, as that deal may no longer be completed.

HSBC announced its first quarterly payout to shareholders since 2019 and said it would buy back $2bn of its shares.