HONG KONG: HSBC's pre-tax profit has jumped by a third in the latest quarter as it paid out less in fines, settlements and British customer compensation ordered by regulators, the bank said Monday.

The bank, Europe's largest by market value, posted $6.1 billion in profit for the July-September period, up 32 percent from a year earlier. Revenue slipped 4 percent to $15.1 billion.

After being hit by a series of regulatory crackdowns and fines in Europe and the US, the bank is carrying out a sweeping reorganization to shift focus to Asia, where it expects a rapidly growing class of newly wealthy to drive profit. The region accounted for about two thirds of the bank's profit for the first nine months of 2015, even though it's home to only a third of its staff.

"Our third quarter performance was resilient against a tough market backdrop," HSBC Holdings PLC group CEO Stuart Gulliver said in a statement.

He said a stock market drop over the summer in Asia, sparked by a sell-off in China, weighed on revenue at its retail banking and wealth management divisions and its global banking and markets unit.

Operating expenses, which include fines and other regulatory expenses, fell by $2.1 billion, or about a fifth, to $9 billion for the quarter compared with a year earlier.

The bank also announced a new joint venture with Chinese state-owned Shenzhen Qianhai Financial Holdings to engage in a "full spectrum" of securities and investment banking businesses in a deal that gives it majority control.

The bank said it was taking a 51 percent stake under rules permitting Hong Kong-funded banks to take a bigger share of such ventures than foreign banks are allowed. The joint venture is based in Qianhai, a pilot special economic zone in the southern Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen, next door to Hong Kong, that's intended as a test bed for liberalisation efforts on the yuan and financial services.

"Establishing a joint venture securities company in China would boost HSBC's ability to support the evolution of China's capital markets as they become an increasingly important source of financing for growth and of investment opportunities for domestic and international asset managers."

In June, the bank announced a major reorganization, including slashing 25,000 jobs, or about 10 percent of its workforce, and selling unprofitable businesses in countries such as Turkey and Brazil. It's also considering moving headquarters out of London as part of the plan. The bank said in its report that it may defer a decision on whether to move its headquarters until next year, sidestepping earlier predictions for a decision by the end of 2015. The bank has been clear that it believes its commercial future lies in China and the Asia-Pacific region.

HSBC is listed on the Hong Kong and London stock exchanges.