(Bloomberg) HSBC Holdings Plc., Europe?s biggest bank by market value, said profit at its US commercial and consumer lending units fell 8.9 percent in the third quarter, hurt by costs related to Hurricane Katrina.

Net income at HSBC USA Inc. and HSBC Finance Corp. fell to $688 million in the three months to September 30 from $755 million a year earlier, the company said today in a regulatory filing. Hurricane Katrina cut earnings by $139 million, it said.

The storm costs related to ?people who had lost their jobs and homes and were unable to keep up their payments,? said spokesman Richard Lindsay.

HSBC?s consumer finance unit, which the company said in September would continue to expand next year, is likely to take a $200 million pretax charge in the fourth quarter because of a ?spike in bankruptcies? in the run-up to new US bankruptcy legislation. Most of that is covered by existing provisions.

London-based HSBC, which doesn?t publish third-quarter earnings for the group, plans to release an update on its business on December 1, said Lindsay. The shares closed down 2 pence, or 0.2 percent, at 924.5 pence in London.

Excluding the hurricane damage, which was caused when Katrina struck Louisiana and neighbouring states on Aug. 29, profit at the two units was 9.5 percent higher than the year-earlier period, according to HSBC.

The units had ?strong underlying business performance supported by good credit experience, customer loan growth and expense trends,? HSBC said in the filing.

HSBC Finance Corp. had $180 million of Katrina-related pretax charges, with a further $26 million at HSBC USA. Third-quarter profit was $388 million at the consumer finance unit and $228 million at HSBC USA. There was also profit of $72 million on assets transferred between the two companies, compared with a $99 million loss in the same period a year earlier.

Nine-month profit at the consumer unit was $1.97 billion, compared with 1.98 billion a year earlier. Profit at HSBC USA declined 23 percent to $743 million after loan impairment and Katrina-related charges of $542 million.