The lending giant is expected to make some serious cuts in its workforce numbers.
Up to 10,000 jobs, on top of the 4,700 redundancies already announced, could be terminated, according to two inside sources familiar with the matter who spoke with the Financial Times.
The newspaper reported that HSBC planned to make the cuts as part of its cost-cutting strategy. Today, HSBC’s staff numbers at about 238,000.
“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,” one of the anonymous sources told the FT.
“There’s some very hard modelling going on. We are asking why we have so many people in Europe when we’ve got double-digit returns in parts of Asia.”
Interim CEO Noel Quinn is said to be spearheading the push to cut the costs. He replaced his predecessor John Flint, who left HSBC in August amidst a leadership reshuffle. These changes were made to address the “challenging global environment,” chairman Mark Tucker said at the time.
Flint was reportedly ousted because he failed to do the cost-cutting initiatives that Quinn is now making.
HSBC is not the only bank that is considering cutting costs by removing big chunks of their workforce.
In late September, Commerzbank announced it would cut 4,300 jobs in an attempt to modernize the bank. At the same time it said it would invest heavily in technology.
In August, Deutsche Bank said it would eliminate 18,000 roles. Barclays, Société Générale and Citigroup have also declared their bids to slash their workforce numbers.
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