HSBC to axe 10,000 jobs amid brutal year for bank workers
HSBC is joining the list of banks this year cutting thousands of jobs as it has plans to axe 10,000 people from the bank.
Two sources who had been briefed on the bank's plans told the Financial Times that the headcount at the bank would be reduced to 238,000 globally.
It's been a brutal year for bank employees. So far this year, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, and Citigroup are among banks that have reportedly shed a total of over 60,000 roles.
New interim CEO Noel Quinn is looking to make his mark on the bank, the newspaper said, as the new job cuts come on top of the 4,700 that were announced in August along with stepping down of chief executive John Flint. Flint was let go in part because he shied away from cutting jobs, as the bank faced mounting Brexit and trade war woes, the FT wrote.
The newspaper cited one of the sources as saying: "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."
"There's some very hard modelling going on. We are asking why we have so many people in Europe when we've got doubledigit returns in parts of Asia," the source added.
Quinn, who replaced Flint in August, has been told that he is the front runner to take the top spot permanently, the FT said. The newspaper said that most of the jobs being cut will likely be taken from those in higher- paid roles.
The bank faces "an increasingly complex and challenging global environment" amid Brexit, low- interest rates, and trade disputes, the FT said.
Meanwhile, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Monday, extending rallies on Wall Street, as US jobs data eased recession fears while maintaining rate cut expectations.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.19 percent or 41.43 points at 21,451.63 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.25 percent or 4.01 points at 1,576.91.
"As the US unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level in 50 years, worries over US recession eased, but at the same time expectations for further rate cuts remain untouched," Hideyuki Ishiguro, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities, said in a commentary.
Investor focus is shifting to US- China trade talks with ministerial- level negotiations scheduled for this week, he added.
The dollar fetched 106.80 in early Asian trade, against 106.86 yen in New York on Friday.
In Tokyo, SoftBank Group was up 1.40 percent at 4,178 yen after US antitrust authorities on Friday approved the $ 26 billion merger of T- Mobile and SoftBank- controlled Sprint in a deal that brings together the third- and fourth- largest wireless operators.
Among other major shares, Sony was up 0.14 percent at 6,224 yen and Nissan was up 0.27 percent at 661.9 yen.
On Wall Street, the Dow ended up 1.4 percent at 26,573.72.
Most markets rose in Asia Monday after a mixed US jobs report eased worries about a recession in the world's top economy by maintained expectations the Federal Reserve will press ahead with more interest rate cuts.
However, there was some nervousness after reports said China had cut back on the number of areas it is willing to discuss at this week's top- level trade talks with the US, rekindling concerns about the chances of any agreement between the two.
After a string of below- par data last week that highlighted the impact of Donald Trump's trade war on the key manufacturing and services sectors, Friday's much- anticipated non- farm payrolls figures showed unemployment at
September.
But the pace of job creation was the slowest in four months, wages fell and the manufacturing workforce also shrank for the second time this year.
All three main indexes on Wall Street rallied more than one percent as dealers breathed a sigh of relief that the jobs figures did not miss badly, with most still expecting another Fed rate cut at its next meeting this month.
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