What's going on?

It�s not been all bad news for banks recently: both HSBC and Standard Chartered�s stocks jumped significantly on Wednesday after they reported some good news as part of their financial results.

What does this mean?

HSBC and Standard Chartered are a bit of a special breed: their stocks are listed in the UK but their international businesses are much more important to them (although HSBC also has a big footprint in the UK). Asia, especially, is a major market for both of them.

HSBC made 45% less profit versus one year ago while Standard Chartered made far less profit than it lost in 2015. But investors focused on other news: HSBC surprised the market by saying that it would buy back $2.5 billion worth of its own stock over the next year (which increases the proportional ownership of the remaining shareholders). Standard Chartered said the number of its �bad loans� (a.k.a. those unlikely to get repaid in full) fell substantially.

Why should I care?

For the stocks: These are two very different investment propositions.

HSBC has a relatively large cash buffer and is profitable, which allows it to buy back its own stock. Investors seemed to like that: its stock was up 5% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Standard Chartered�s result suggests its massive turnaround plan is on-track. Investors also seemed to like that: its stock was up 3.5%.

The bigger picture: Asia isn�t the growth driver that it used to be.

Both banks had to abandon their profit targets (technically called their �return on equity�). For one, this is a reflection that Asia, where both banks are very active, isn�t producing the same outsized returns that it once did. On top of that, low interest rates globally are hurting profits at HSBC and Standard Chartered (like most banks around the world).