HSBC plans to cut up to 30,000 jobs worldwide by the end of 2013 as part of a major refocus of its global banking operations towards Asia and away from less profitable regions.
On announcing better than expected first half pre-tax profits of $11.5 billion, a rise of 3%, the group said that it had already axed 5,000 jobs but intended to make a further 25,000 “role reductions” over the next two and a half years.
Stuart Gulliver, HSBC’s chief executive, said that the job cuts would mainly affect back office, head office and support staff as the firm tried to reduce overheads. But he added that the bank’s overall headcount of 335,000 would remain flat as firing in some countries, particularly in Europe and the US would be offset by hiring in others such as Asia and Latin America, where the bank experienced the strongest revenue growth.
In total, the bank has operations in 87 countries, but Gulliver said that he wanted to strip out various management layers that were created prior to his taking the helm this January. He is also keen to focus on commercial and investment banking rather than retail operations in some countries.
The bank also cited concern about the impact of potential UK regulatory changes being proposed by the Independent Commission on Banking being chaired by Sir John Vickers as well as global changes being suggested by international banking regulators in Basel.
