HSBC Layoffs 2019: 10,000 Lose Jobs In Cost-Cutting Effort

Banking giant HSBC is reportedly planning to chop 10,000 jobs. The move being spearheaded by interim Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn is aiming to slash costs, according to reports.

A report by the Financial Times said the job cuts would be targeting highly-paid positions and the formal announcement would come during the reporting of third-quarter results later in October.

“We’ve known for years that we need to do something about our cost base, the largest component of which is people — now we are finally grasping the nettle,” said an insider, the FT quoted.

According to HSBC news, Quinn took over in August after the controversial CEO John Flint left.

The CEO has been working on the job reduction plan along with Ewen Stevenson, chief financial officer. The latter has a record of taking effective steps to lower costs when he was in the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The duo is aiming savings in the four major divisions of HSBC that service multinational corporations, small business, retail, and high-value customers.

Banking news also aid HSBC is looking to divest and sell a retail operation in France under the cost-cutting plan.

Layoffs forced by the adverse business climate

Earlier this year, the bank made it public that it might cut nearly 4,000 jobs year as the business climate is not helping the growth outlook.

The bank faces many adverse factors including escalation of the trade war between China and the United States, easing the monetary policy cycle, protests in the Hong Kong market and Brexit.

However, an insider said the downsizing would not prevent the bank from hiring “revenue-generating” staff in high-growth regions of Asia.

The HSBC refused to comment.

The bank has been running a scheme “Project Oak” directing managers to reduce the size of their teams. Thousands of staff positions had been turning redundant following low or negative interest rates and weak investment banking revenues.

Deutsche Bank news in August said it would slash 18,000 jobs while Barclays and Citibank said they are studying job cuts.

The HSBC stock had a better performance in September at the FTSE 100 compared to August.

According to stock market news, the bounce back in September pushed up HSBC share price more than 6 percent over the previous month although it still lagged many blue-chip banking peers and top stocks in the financial sector.

HSBC —Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation— makes most of its profit in Asia. The bank posted a group profit of $12.4 billion in the latest half-year, in which $9.8 billion was from Asia, with Hong Kong contributing $6.4 billion and China $1.5 billion.

The Hong Kong protest movements and political responses had been causing fluctuations in HSBC’s shares.