HSBC (HSBC) reported its third-quarter pre-tax profit to be $4.8 billions to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (388:HK) on Monday, Oct. 28.

What Happened

The UK-based investment banking giant saw a drop of more than 18% in the quarter that ended on Sept. 30, compared to the similar quarter last year where it grossed $5.9 billion.

Wall Street analysts had estimated the profit to be around $5.3 billion, according to Reuters.

What’s Next

The uncertainty over Brexit, US-China trade war, and Hong Kong protests have all taken a toll on the bank’s business forcing it to take cost-cutting measures.

HSBC has abandoned their target for return on tangible equity of more than 11% for the next year, Bloomberg reports.

Surprisingly, the bank lags more in Europe than China on returns, in spite of the greater turbulence in the latter region, and is looking to take “dramatic measures” to fix that.

"[In] some parts, the performance was not acceptable, principally business activities within continental Europe, the non-ring-fenced bank in the U.K., and the U.S.,” HSBC’s acting CEO Noel Quinn said in a statement. “Our previous plans are no longer sufficient to improve performance for these businesses, given the softer outlook for revenue growth. We are therefore accelerating plans to remodel them, and move capital into higher growth and return opportunities.”

Price Action

HSBC stocks were trading at 2.84% down on the Hong Kong stock exchange and 0.15% on the New York stock exchange following the news, as of press time.