HSBC on Friday said pretax profit in the third quarter grew more slowly than in the first half of the year and that revenue is down in the first nine months of 2010 compared with a year earlier, though bad loans continued to fall across the regions it operates in, including the US.

In an update on its third-quarter performance that doesn't include detailed figures, the London-based, emerging markets-focused bank said new customer lending in the third quarter increased from the first six months but that muted demand for credit in the US and Europe and reduced trading volume in its investment banking division hit revenue.