Outlook – 

We have announced measures to simplify the Group and we are focused on opportunities that build on our strong platform for growth.

 – We are now targeting a mid-teens return on average tangible equity (‘RoTE') in each of the three years from 2025 to 2027 excluding notable items, while acknowledging the outlook for interest rates remains volatile and uncertain, particularly in the medium term.

 – We expect banking NII of around $42bn in 2025. Our current expectation reflects modelling of a number of market-dependent factors. If changes in these factors impact the output of our modelling, we would update our expectation for 2025 Banking NII in future quarterly results announcements. 

– We retain a Group-wide focus on cost discipline. We are targeting growth in target basis operating expenses of approximately 3% in 2025 compared with 2024. 

– Our target basis operating expenses for 2025 excludes the direct cost impact of the business disposals in Canada and Argentina, notable items and the impact of retranslating the prior year results of hyperinflationary economies at constant currency.

 – Our cost target includes the impact of simplification-related saves associated with our announced reorganisation, which aims to generate approximately $0.3bn of cost reductions in 2025, with a commitment to an annualised reduction of $1.5bn in our cost base expected by the end of 2026. To deliver these reductions, we plan to incur severance and other up-front costs of $1.8bn over 2025 and 2026, which will be classified as notable items. We are focused on opportunities where we have a clear competitive advantage and accretive returns, and we aim to redeploy around $1.5bn of additional costs from non-strategic activities into these areas, over the medium term. 

– We expect ECL charges as a percentage of average gross loans to continue to be within our medium-term planning range of 30bps to 40bps in 2025 (including lending held for sale balances). 

– Over the medium to long term, we continue to expect mid-single digit percentage growth for year-on-year customer lending balances. – We expect double-digit percentage average annual growth in fee and other income in Wealth over the medium-term.

 – We intend to continue to manage the CET1 capital ratio within our medium-term target range of 14% to 14.5%, with a dividend payout ratio target basis of 50% for 2025, excluding material notable items and related impacts.