HSBC to Cut 10 Percent of Global Workforce by 2013

The hemorrhaging of jobs in the global banking industry continues unabated.

British banking giant HSBC (NYSE: HBC) said it will slash another 25,000 jobs by 2013 – on top of the 5,000 cuts it has already announced -- and also depart unprofitable operations in twenty countries in order to save billions of dollars.

The job eliminations were announced despite the fact that the company posted first-half profits of $11.5-billion dollars, a 3 percent increase from the year-ago period.

All together, HSBC will have jettisoned about 10 percent of its global workforce by 2013.

However, company bosses said it will likely begin hiring again after the current restructuring is complete.

"The net number will be a lot smaller than the 30,000 [job cuts]," said HSBC’s group chief executive Stuart Gulliver.

Most of the job cuts will be in back-office and support staff.

“We have created an unnecessarily large bureaucracy,” he said,

Analysts and stock markets appear to have applauded the move. In early trading in New York, HBC shares are up 2.2 percent.

"HSBC has set the bar high for those that follow, beating market expectations and planning to streamline its business further," said Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, according to BBC.

Separately, the bank said it will close retail banking units in Poland and Russia and also dispose of three insurance businesses.

Over the weekend, the bank said it will unload 195 retail branches in the U.S., primarily in New York, to First Niagara Financial Group (Nasdaq: FNFG) for about $1 billion.

HSBC also said it will expand in the faster-growing regions of East Asia and Latin America.

However, the bank expressed some caution about its near-term outlook.

"The global economy appears to be losing momentum in its recovery. Financial markets globally will likely be volatile over the rest of this year and into 2012," HSBC said in a statement.