HSBC has provided $1.6billion (£1bn) in the third quarter to settle misconduct issues and compensate customers; and recorded a 12 per cent fall in underlying profit for the period.
The bill includes a $378m provision the banking giant has made for the costs of a potential settlement with Britain's Financial Conduct Authority for alleged manipulation of currency markets.
The charge provides further evidence of the massive scale of the costs some leading banks face for settling a series of regulatory isses.
On Friday, Royal Bank of Scotland said it had set aside £400 million to pay potential fines for manipulating currency markets. Royal Bank's chief executive Ross McEwan said then "significant conduct and litigation issues" will hit its profits in future quarters.
On Thursday, Barclays Bank said it had provided £500m concerning investigations into foreign exchange with regulatory authorities.
HSBC provided $700m for the cost of customer redress programmes in the third quarter, including $589m related to possible misselling of Payment Protection Insurance.
It provided $550m for a settlement in the USA for allegedly mis-selling mortgage-backed securities.
HSBC's third-quarter underlying earnings fell to $4.4 billion, from $5bn a year ago.
Operating expenses jumped 15 percent, to $11.1bn from $9.6bn.
Chief executive Stuart Gulliver said: "The cost base of a global bank like ourselves is higher than it was before, because ... it includes a significantly higher compliance and regulatory cost than historically the banks had invested in."
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