HSBC set to cut up to 10,000 jobs in drive to slash costs: Report
HSBC Holdings Plc is planning to cut up to 10,000 jobs 'high paid' as part of a major cost-cutting drive as interim Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn is seeking to reduce costs across the banking group, according to Financial Times reports published on Sunday.
As per FT reports, the HSBC plan represents the lender’s most ambitious attempt in years to cut costs. The report said the cuts will focus mainly on high-paid roles.
The plan would result in a substantial reduction in HSBC’s workforce of about 238,000, the FT report said.
HSBC could announce the beginning of the latest cost-cutting drive and job cuts when it reports third-quarter results later this month (October 2019), the newspaper said.
The job cuts -- on top of 4,700 redundancies flagged earlier -- could be unveiled when HSBC reports its third-quarter results later this month, according to the report.
Quinn became interim CEO in August after John Flint abruptly departed after 18 months leading the bank. To address "a challenging global environment," bank needed a change at the top, authorities said after Flint's surprise departure.
Shortly after his ouster, Quinn told senior managers he wanted “less process and more action.”
The HSBC mass job cuts come after the lender said it would be laying off about 4,000 people this year, and issued a gloomier business outlook with an escalation of a trade war between China and the United States, an easing monetary policy cycle, unrest in its key Hong Kong market and Brexit. However, HSBC declined to comment.
(With inputs from Reuters)
