Interim, and especially quarterly, trading statements rarely offer anything of substance to analysts and observers of business performance.

Most of the time they generate more noise. And this can often occlude the more important fundamentals.

From time to time there are exceptions, however. This was certainly the case at HSBC Holdings where Noel Quinn, its new chief executive, issued a rather chilling statement.

“Parts of our business, especially Asia, held up well in a challenging environment in the third quarter,” he said.

“However in some parts performance was not acceptable, particularly bu...