Reported operating expenses of $9 billion were 19% lower than in the same period last year, largely due to 'cost savings initiatives'.
However, total revenue dropped 4% to $15.1bn following stock market volatility in Asia.
In June, HSBC announced plans to cut 10% of its workforce, including thousands of jobs in the UK and around 25,000 jobs worldwide as it undertakes a "significant reshaping of its business portfolio".
The bank is targeting $5bn in annual cost savings by 2017, and a reduction of Group Risk Weighted Assets of about $290bn.
The bank is also considering keeping its headquarters in the UK after the government watered down a number of banking regulations, according to reports. In April, HSBC said it would be looking into moving its headquarters out of the UK following "regulatory and structural reforms" since the financial crisis.
Group Chief Executive, Stuart Gulliver, commented:
"Our third quarter performance was resilient against a tough market backdrop. Revenue was down compared to the third quarter of 2014. In particular, the stock market correction in Asia affected Principal Retail Banking & Wealth Management, and revenue was also lower in Global Banking & Markets.
"Despite slowing growth in the mainland Chinese economy and market volatility in Asia, there has been no visible impact on our Asian credit quality in 3Q15.
"Our operating expenses were higher than the same period last year, as expected, although our cost programmes have started to gain traction. Our third quarter costs were lower than our second quarter costs.
"We have continued to implement the strategic actions we announced at our Investor Update in June. Our targeted initiatives reduced risk-weighted assets by an additional $32bn, bringing the total reduction to $82bn since the start of the year. This means we are already nearly 30% of the way towards our targeted reduction of $290bn by the end of 2017. We remain focused on reducing our risk-weighted assets quickly and efficiently.
"Our cost-reduction measures are beginning to have an impact on our cost base. There is more to achieve on costs and we expect the measures we have already taken to have a further impact in the fourth quarter. We also started a number of additional initiatives in the third quarter that will deliver savings before the end of the year."
