"We enter 2017 with the restructuring of the Group essentially completed, and with a strong capital position and a conservative balance sheet."
The Bank's full year results attribute the fall to "significant items of $12.2bn", including a $3.2bn writeoff of goodwill in its Global Private Banking business in Europe and the impact of its sale of operations in Brazil.
Adjusted profit for the year was down 1.2% at $19.3bn.
The Bank also reiterated plans to move 1,000 jobs from London to Paris over the next two years, depending on unfolding Brexit negotiations.
Douglas Flint, Group Chairman, said: "The Group’s reported profit before tax amounted to $7.1bn, some 62% lower than the prior year. This decline principally reflected the impact of significant items, most of which had no impact on capital, even though they were material in accounting terms.
"On the adjusted basis used to measure management and business performance, profit before tax was $19.3bn, broadly in line with the $19.5bn achieved in the prior year.
"We enter 2017 with the restructuring of the Group essentially completed, and with a strong capital position and a conservative balance sheet. We are gaining market share in areas of importance to HSBC as others scale back and our offerings become more competitive. Much of the heavy investment in reshaping the Group to improve productivity, embrace technological change and reinforce global standards of business conduct has been made."
Laith Khalaf, Senior Analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, commented: "HSBC’s share price has travelled a long way in the last year, while the earnings of the company have actually taken a step back. The bank is a shining example of how the decline in sterling has bumped up the price of some of the UK’s largest companies, without much progress in underlying profits.
"Despite an underwhelming set of full year results, HSBC is making progress in de-risking and restructuring, and ultimately the bank’s focus on the far east could be its trump card if the Chinese economy starts to fire on all cylinders."
