HSBC 'to slash 20,000 jobs'
HSBC is expected to announce up to 20,000 job cuts to its global workforce next week, it has been reported.
Chief executive Stuart Gulliver will set out the cuts at an investor event next Tuesday as he seeks to reassure shareholders that the banking giant's focus on cutting costs remains undiminished after a series of recent scandals, according to Sky News.
It is thought the scale of the cuts is yet to be finalised, but is likely to impact between 10,000 and 20,000 roles.
HSBC declined to comment.
The bank employs 266,000 people, including 48,000 in the UK.
According to Sky, the headcount reductions figure would exclude the potential impact of sales of HSBC's operations in Brazil and Turkey. Another report suggested Mr Gulliver could take an axe to the group's investment banking division.
It comes after a round of 30,000 job cuts announced in 2011 by Mr Gulliver at a time when its global workforce stood at 296,000 with 52,000 in the UK.
HSBC, which has its origins in Hong Kong, recently announced that it was to consider moving its headquarters out of the UK in the wake of "regulatory and structural reforms" in the industry following the financial crisis.
These include, in the UK, the need to separate its investment banking arm from the retail division serving ordinary customers and businesses.
The head office of the UK retail bank is being relocated from London to Birmingham by 2019 amid the "ringfencing" rules and HSBC is said to be considering a sale of the business - which was known as the Midland before being swallowed up by HSBC in 1992.
HSBC has recently been under intense pressure over its Swiss private banking arm amid claims that it helped thousands of account holders hide billions of their assets from tax authorities.
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