HSBC chief wields axe over 10,000 jobs

HSBC is poised to axe 10,000 jobs as interim chief executive Noel Quinn attempts to cut costs at Britain’s biggest bank.

The High Street lender’s workforce has already fallen by 60,000 over the past ten years, and union officials said they were ‘appalled’ at the prospect of further cuts.

HSBC, which runs its branch operations out of a new office in Birmingham, employed about 238,000 people around the globe at the end of last year.

That is down from 295,000 in 2010, and since then the bank has further reduced its workforce by abandoning parts of its sprawling business empire.

during the past ten years it has sold or pulled out of 110 business lines and areas of the world. It now focuses its operations in 65 countries rather than the 87 where it had flags planted a decade ago.

Almost half (48pc) of its profits are generated in Asia – where around the same proportion of its staff are based – while 30pc comes from Europe.

HSBC did not comment last night on the possibility of further cuts but it has been coming under pressure from investors to reduce costs quicker so that it can meet its target for an 11pc return on equity – a measure of profitability.

Quinn ( pictured) was named as interim replacement in August after John Flint’s sudden exit after less than 18 months in the job, amid speculation that he had been too slow to make changes. At the time, the bank had said it was cutting 4,700 jobs because of a challenging global environment. Some of those were linked to ‘Project Oak’ – a central fund used to encourage managers to cut the size of their teams. Quinn will face questions about his plans on October 28 when he presents his first results since he was parachuted into the top job. He will also face questions about the review of the bank’s operations in France, where it could pull out of its retail business.

Ian Gordon, banks analyst at broker Investec, said that he thought the figure of 10,000 was likely to include any sell-off of the French arm.

But, he said, the need to cut was ‘indicative of ongoing revenue pressures’.

The bank’s share edged 0.4pc higher, or 2.4p, to 604.3p after the Financial Times reported the scope of the extra job cuts.

dominic Hook, national officer at the union Unite, said they were ‘appalled by the reports of 10,000 job cuts globally, and have raised urgent questions with the management of the bank in order to get vital answers on behalf our members working within HSBC’.