HSBC to cut 30,000 jobs by 2013 despite strong profits
Posted August 1, 2011 5:56 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Banking giant HSBC says it will cut a total of 30,000 jobs worldwide by 2013, or nearly 10 per cent of its global workforce.
Europe’s largest bank announced the new 25,000 cuts Monday morning, which come in addition to the 5,000 positions the bank will eliminate this year.
The cuts come as HSBC looks to restructure and revamp its business, following a wide-ranging cost-reduction program that began in May.
The bank plans to withdraw from some countries while focusing on development in high-growth markets.
Officials from the bank stressed that the cuts do not include any new hiring or expansion plans. Although HSBC is closing its branches in some areas, officials said they are still hiring in others.
The updated restructuring plan comes despite better-than expected profits in the first-half of 2011. Shares of HSBC rose 3.2 per cent in London following reports of a first-half growth of several billion dollars.
So far, the bank has announced it will stop offering retail banking in Russia and Poland, along with selling nearly 200 retail branches in New York.
Many of the current 5,000 job cuts come from scaled back operations in Britain, Latin America, the U.S., France and the Middle East.
It is unclear where the remainder of the 30,000 job cuts will come.
