HSBC Plans New Round of Investment Bank Job Cuts Next Week

 (Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc is kicking off a fresh round of job cuts at its investment bank as new Chief Executive Officer Georges Elhedery continues his overhaul of Europe’s biggest lender, according to people familiar with the matter.

(Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc is kicking off a fresh round of job cuts at its investment bank as new Chief Executive Officer Georges Elhedery continues his overhaul of Europe’s biggest lender, according to people familiar with the matter.

Since taking charge in September, Elhedery has already cut the size of his own group executive committee by about a third. Reductions to senior staffers were expected to affect a little over 40% of the company’s top 175 managers, Bloomberg reported in December. The bank has said it expects to complete the moves by June.

HSBC Cut 30,000 Jobs in Last Two Years

HSBC has reduced its number of staff by almost 30,000 in the last two years and said more job cuts are likely across the bank to achieve its cost efficiency targets.

The bank had 266,700 staff at the end of September, down from 296,000 at the end of 2010 and down about 21,000 this year.

HSBC Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver said about 15,000 of the reduction were due to disposals by the bank and he expected more cuts before the end of 2013 to improve cost efficiency. "We are probably likely to see the headcount reduce further...in terms of the organic reduction, there's still some way to go," he told reporters on a conference call.

Gulliver said in May 2011 he would cut about 30,000 jobs as part of a restructuring plan.

HSBC plans to cut 30,000 jobs

HSBC will shed 30,000 jobs as it retreats from countries where it is struggling to compete, Europe's biggest bank said on Monday after it reported a surprise rise in first-half profit.


HSBC will axe 30,000 jobs as it slashes costs and retreats from countries such as Russia, Poland and the U.S., where it is struggling to compete, Europe's biggest bank said after reporting a surprise rise in first-half profit.

HSBC's shares rose as much as 5 percent as first-half pretax profits of $11.5 billion were up 3 percent on a year ago, beating the $10.9 billion average in a Reuters poll.

The London-based bank said it had cut 5,000 jobs after restructuring operations in Latin America, the United States, Britain, France and the Middle East and that it would cut another 25,000 between now and the end of 2013.

That equates to 10 percent of HSBC's 296,000 workforce. The bank's 110,000 staff in Europe and North America will bear the brunt of the job cuts.