HSBC Holdings, plc.

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the analyst and investor webinar on the 2024 first quarter results for HSBC Holdings PLC. For your information this webinar is being recorded. We are now ready to start the webinar so I will hand over to Mark Tucker, Group Chairman.

Good morning to those of you in London and good afternoon to those of you in Hong Kong. I'm joining you today from London and have alongside me Noel and George. I'll be making some short opening remarks before handing over to Noel. As you may have already seen, we have announced today that Noel has informed the board of his intention to retire from the bank after nearly five years in the role. The board and I would like to pay tribute to Noel's exceptional years in the bank. As Group Chief Executive, he drove both our transformation strategy as well as creating a simpler, more focused business through the disposal of assets in the US, France, and Canada. This has enabled us to deliver an improved performance, achieving record profits last year, and create a platform for future growth and development. Noel who you'll hear from in a second has decided it's the right time to step back and find a better balance between his personal and business commitments. As you would expect, the board keeps succession planning under constant review. We already have started a robust and rigorous process to find our next group chief executive. This process will look at both internal and external candidates. I'm very pleased that Noel has agreed to remain in his role while this process takes place, ensuring a smooth and orderly transition. And on a personal note, I'd like to thank Noel for his unwavering commitment and dedication to HSBC, which he joined 37 years ago. Noel, it's been a pleasure and privilege to work with and alongside you.

Thank you, Mark. Thank you. I'm very grateful for your support, guidance, friendship, and partnership. I'm proud of what my HSBC colleagues and I have achieved together over the past five years. Over that period, we have hit some significant milestones, record profits last year, the strongest returns in a decade, and the highest dividends since 2008. As Mark mentioned, We have created a more focused business and I believe we have built a strong platform for the bank's next phase of development and growth. That's why I feel this is the right time to step back to find a better balance between my personal and business commitments with the intention going forward after a break of pursuing a portfolio career. When I reflect back on the last 37 years, I have held intensive leadership roles, particularly since I took over the UK Commercial Bank in October of 2008. After 16 years of intensive leadership, I'm ready for a change. But it's also a natural inflection point for the bank as it comes to the end of the current transformation phase. it's an ideal time to bring in new leadership. The board has now started a process to find my successor and I'm very happy to continue in my role as that process takes place. Rest assured, I will be working hard to ensure a smooth and orderly transition for my successor and to keep the momentum going in this business as you have seen in Q1. Until then, it's business as usual. So let's now turn to our Q1 results, which have showed continued progress. We had a good first quarter. Reported profit before tax was $12.7 billion. Excluding notable items, profit before tax was $9 billion. Our return on tangible equity was 16.4%, excluding notable items. I'm also pleased with the further capital distributions of $8.8 billion, which brings the total amount of distributed capital by way of dividends and buybacks over the last 15 months to almost $28 billion. And we are on track to meet all of our previously communicated guidance for 2024. I will now hand over to George to take you through the numbers.