HSBC will cut 10,000 jobs
HSBC is expected to announce a stagnation in group profits this morning and a massive round of lay-offs that could see 10,000 jobs cuts globally.
Analysts expect the bank’s full-year pre-tax profits to be around $11bn (£6.7bn), versus $10.9bn last year. Investec predicts a 14 per cent drop in net profit from $4.4bn in the first quarter to $3.8bn in the second.
But chief executive Stuart Gulliver is also expected to provide more details on the bank’s $2.5-$3.5bn cost-cutting programme that could see 10,000 jobs go, or up to 30,000 over the next three years, out of some 300,000 employees.
In its May strategic review to address what Gulliver calls a “cost problem”, the bank warned that it would be streamlining its operations to avoid “duplication”. In addition to cutting out layers of middle management, that is likely to include dispensing with some of its five global IT hubs.
It is also reviewing its presence in 39 countries and announced last week the closure of its Polish retail business, with the likely loss of 263 jobs.
The bank also confirmed yesterday that it had reached an agreement to sell 195 of its network of US retail branches to First Niagara for around $1bn (£608m) as part of a scaleback of its US operations.