HSBC (HSBA.L) announced a $2.5 billion (£1.87 billion) share buy-back and pared ambitions to grow dividend payouts and returns as it took pragmatic steps to soothe investors amid slowing growth in its home markets of Britain and Hong Kong.

The lender’s London-listed shares were trading 3.6 per cent higher after the buy-back took the sting out of a 29 per cent drop in January-June pretax profits, which matched analysts’ expectations.

As Britain’s vote to leave the European Union clouds economic prospects and Hong Kong absorbs slower growth in China, HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, has opted to “remove a timetable” for reaching its targeted return on equity (RoE) in excess of 10 per cent by the end of next year. Return on equity at end-June was 7.4 per cent.