Banking giant HSBC has revealed a 62% slump in annual profits amid "volatile" trading caused by the Brexit vote and President Donald Trump's election.
The London-based lender, which is Europe's largest bank, posted worse-than-expected pre-tax profits of 7.1 billion US dollars (£5.7 billion), down sharply on the 18.9 billion US dollars (£15.2 billion) for 2015.
It saw bottom-line losses in the final three months of 2016 quadruple to 3.4 billion US dollars (£2.7 billion).
HSBC blamed a string of one-off charges, such as the sale of its Brazilian operations, as well as hefty write-downs from a restructuring.
Douglas Flint, the group's chairman, insisted the group's performance was "broadly satisfactory" in the face of "volatile market conditions" caused by Brexit negotiations as well as Mr Trump's US presidency.
He said: "2016 will be long remembered for its significant and largely unexpected economic and political events.
"These foreshadowed changes to the established geopolitical and economic relationships that have defined interactions within developed economies and between them and the rest of the world."
He also warned over the "threat of populism" for the year ahead.
Mr Flint cautioned over risks from "upcoming European elections, possible protectionist measures from the new US administration impacting global trade, uncertainties facing the UK and the EU as they enter Brexit negotiations, and the impact of a stronger dollar on emerging economies with high debt levels".
He also reiterated 1,000 jobs may have to move from London to Paris over the next two years depending on the outcome of Brexit negotiations.
On an underlying basis, HSBC said pre-tax profits fell by 1% to 19.3 billion US dollars (£15.5 billion), stripping out a 3.1 billion US dollar (£2.5 billion) impairment charge in the European arm, the hit from its Brazilian sale and changes to the value of its own debt.
Net profits fell 82% to 2.5 billion US dollars (£2 billion).
The results were branded "disappointing" by banking expert Gary Greenwood at Shore Capital.
Shares in the group tumbled more than 6% after the results fell short of City expectations.
HSBC's annual report published alongside the 2016 results also showed chief executive Stuart Gulliver's like-for-like potential pay package rose to £7.7 million for 2016 from £7.3 million in 2015.
This came as the group overhauled its long-term share bonus plan, while Mr Gulliver also saw his annual bonus rise to £1.7 million from £1.1 million in 2015.
But the group cut its overall bonus pool for staff by 12.3% to three billion US dollars (£2.4 billion) for 2016.
The group revealed 245 staff earned more than £1 million in 2016.
Its annual report also showed US regulators remain concerned over the bank's measures to improve defences against financial crime.
The group said the so-called monitor - posted to HSBC's offices as part of a deferred prosecution agreement after a £1.2 billion US money-laundering fine in 2012 - has "raised certain concerns".
Mr Gulliver added: "But we have continued to progress and our commitment remains unwavering.
"By the end of this year, we are on track to have our anti-money laundering and sanctions policy framework in place and to have introduced major compliance IT systems across the group."
The group said it was "on track" with its hunt to find a successor to Mr Flint by the end of the year and will make an announcement in "due course".
It said in March last year it planned to nominate a successor in 2017.
The new chairman will lead the process for selecting a new chief executive to replace Mr Gulliver.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here