HSBC has reported a 23 per cent surge in pre-tax profits for the first half of the year, with a billion-dollar share buyback programme initialised - though that was materially smaller than most experts had anticipated. However, Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, warned that increased bank profits overall would only up the expectation on the new prime minister to put a big profits tax on heavyweight financial institutions. "HSBC announced a second dividend for this year and a share buyback of $1bn, to be completed in the next 3 months. "The TUC is calling for the government to increase the surcharge to raise up to £60 billion over the next four years." HSBC's interim results revealed a 3.7 billion dollar (£2.75 billion) rise in profit before tax to 19.5 billion dollars (£14.5 billion) compared with the same period last year.