HSBC shares fell 7% to 1,269.6p in early trading, making the bank the biggest faller on the FTSE 100 after a seemingly small net interest undershoot.
The drop came despite a 32% rise in third-quarter pre-tax profit to $9.6bn, and a new share buy-back of up to $1bn.
Standard Chartered, which also focuses on Asian markets, was dragged lower.
Jefferies, which rates HSBC a 'hold' with a 1,120p price target, said the quarterly profit was largely in line with forecasts, helped by lower credit costs and operating expenses.
The brokerage said net interest income, the gap between what the bank earns on loans and pays on deposits, was a small miss.
Wealth revenue of $2,688m missed consensus by $121m, or 4.3%, though Jefferies said one-offs and disposals flattered the shortfall and underlying trends were intact.
The bigger worry is what comes next. HSBC kept its 2026 target for banking net interest income of at least $46bn, but Jefferies said analyst forecasts of $49.7bn for 2027 and $51.7bn for 2028 look ambitious.
HSBC flagged emerging customer and competitive pressure on deposits in Hong Kong and the UK.
Time deposits, which pay higher rates than current accounts, rose to 38% of Hong Kong customer deposits, up 2 percentage points on the previous quarter.
HSBC estimates that each further 1 percentage point shift into time deposits adds about $0.2bn to annual interest costs.
The common equity tier 1 ratio, a key measure of financial strength, fell 0.2 percentage points to 13.9%, about 0.2 points below consensus. That is under HSBC's target range of 14% to 14.5%.
HSBC expects the final Basel 3.1 rules to add 40 to 50 basis points to the ratio from 1 January 2027.
Jefferies said HSBC trades on 1.9 times tangible book value for a return on tangible equity of 18.2%.
