HSBC plans new restructure with France and USA in firing line
HSBC is planning to cull its US and French divisions in a cost-saving shake-up that could cost 10,000 employees their jobs.
HSBC interim CEO plans cuts in France and the US.
According to the Daily Mail’s This is Money, interim chief executive officer Noel Quinn is ready to unveil the fresh plans in the banks’ annual results in February.
Parts of HSBC’s US division will be in Quinn’s sights. Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco branches, founded mostly to provide for expatriates from China and Mexico, could be set for closure.
According to reports, HSBC’s east coast cohorts remain safe due to stronger performance in its private wealth division, a holdover from the global bank’s acquisition of Marine Midland and Republic in the 1980s and 90s.
The banks’ retail banking operations in France are also in the firing line, following losses in a difficult economic market. In July 2019 the country issued its first-ever 10-year bond at a negative borrowing rate.
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The changes could see the cutting of around 10,000 jobs, around 4% of its 250,000 global workforce. The first hints of these wide-scale cuts emerged in November 2019, when Financial Times insiders said that the bank was investigating why it has “so many people” in Europe.
HSBC cut 4,700 people in early August 2019 in parallel with the departure of then-chief executive John Flint.
Sources close the bank told This is Money that HSBC remains committed to keeping its headquarters in London.
