HSBC Sends 10,000 Staff Home Following CEO Departure

HSBC will cut up to 10,000 jobs in 2019, or nearly four percent of its full-time headcount as it becomes the next bank to succumb to the global slump in banking revenues, the FT said, citing one person briefed on the matter.

HSBC did not formally announce its restructuring plans, with no official indication of how many jobs it would exactly ax, but it is expected to reveal the details when it reports earnings later this month.

The job reduction comes as a sign that the slump may be more permanent than previously thought, going beyond trade-war tension and easing monetary policy cycle in Europe and the US.

Earlier this year, HSBC has reportedly begun its previously-announced job cuts in London, but some industry sources said they were a little harsher than previously expected. The British bank, which is conducting a cost-cutting drive aimed at protecting its dividends, has been laying off senior people in a bid to cut costs.

HSBC has unexpectedly parted ways with its CEO John Flint in August, less than two years after his appointment. The lender was vague over the cause of its former executive chief, saying only that the decision was “mutual” and that its board believed a change was needed to meet the challenges it faced.

A turbulent period for HSBC

Starting at the top, HSBC Securities Services’ global head of business development, Nick Bruce was among the latest wave of laid-off employees after having served with the lender since 2004.

The announcements followed large rounds of job reductions earlier in the year from investment banks like Societe Generale, Nomura, among many others.

The cuts anyways follow a turbulent period for HSBC, where the former CEO rebuked top managers earlier this year for missing revenue and cost targets. The investment bank, which gets most of its business in Asia, also suffered an exodus of high-profile executives after the meltdown hit the business in financial markets, which put further pressure on the CEO to rein in costs.

Flint said HSBC would focus on making revenues grow faster than costs through being more focused on its traditional strengths of corporate and retail banking.