Some of Hong Kong’s biggest banks published full-page newspaper advertisements on Thursday calling for the preservation of law and order in the Chinese special administrative region (SAR) and condemned the violence witnessed in the last weeks.

HSBC, Standard Chartered and Bank of East Asia published the advertisements in major newspapers in the Asian financial hub urging for the restoration of social order.

Standard Chartered said the bank supports the SAR government in upholding social order and “guard the status of Hong Kong as an international financial center.”

HSBC said all parties must resolve the disagreement through communication rather than violence.

The protests are already taking a toll on Hong Kong’s economy and tourism, with the Asian financial hub on the verge of its first recession in a decade.

The Bank of East Asia (BEA) warned on Wednesday that protests and social unrest in the HKSAR over the past two months, combined with an escalation of the China-U.S. trade war, could begin to weigh on the city's economy.

The Hong Kong-based bank, which counts the HKSAR and the Chinese mainland as its main markets, reported a nearly 75-percent slump in its first-half profit on Wednesday. 

It also warned that social unrest in Hong Kong and a trade dispute between China and the United States could affect the economies of both the Chinese mainland and the HKSAR.

"Going forward, the performance of the Hong Kong economy could be affected by the recent social unrest. The tense atmosphere (caused by protests) is likely to weigh on consumer and business confidence, and on inbound tourism, if there is no resolution soon," the bank said. 

Read more: Hong Kong protests, violence hurt local tourism industry

"Given the external and domestic uncertainties, the performance of the Hong Kong economy is likely to be constrained through the end of 2019."

Read more: Hong Kong's economy grew at the slowest pace in a decade, what's next for the city?

The BEA and its rivals have had to close branches in the vicinity of protests on numerous occasions.

"The recent situation in Hong Kong causes signs of concerns for the local SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises)," Adrian Li, the bank's co-chief executive, said at a press conference. "It is because you see that if the current condition continues, (it) shall affect tourism, retail trade as well as investors' confidence. Nevertheless, our Hong Kong asset quality remains very healthy."

Read more: Hong Kong protests jeopardizing local businesses

In June, the bank said it expected to record "significant post-tax impairment losses" in the first half of the year as a result of the downgrades of four "legacy" loan assets on the Chinese mainland.

On Wednesday, the bank said the loans were made to privately-owned enterprises and related to shopping malls and offices.

(With input from Reuters)