HSBC to reignite its prior plan for a massive 35,000 job cut which it had put on hold after the coronavirus outbreak
On 17 June, Wednesday, HSBC, international bank, announced it will reignite its prior plan for a massive 35,000 job cut, which it had put on hold after the coronavirus outbreak.
The layoffs were originally slated to start back in February, but HSBC placed the layoffs on hold during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The bulk of the job cuts are likely in the back office at Global Banking and Markets (GBM), which houses HSBC’s investment banking and trading.
CEO Noel Quinn, sent a memo to his 235,000 employees writing, “We could not pause the job losses indefinitely—it was always a question of ‘not if, but when,”
“The bank will also maintain a freeze on almost all external recruitment”, Noel Quinn said.
The CEO somberly added that the layoffs, which were first planned for February, are “even more necessary today.” “Since February, we have pressed forward with some aspects of our transformation program, but we now need to look to the long term and move ahead with others, including reducing our costs,” said Quinn.
HSBC said it would try to find internal jobs for those affected but that redundancies were likely. A bank spokeswoman confirmed the contents of the memo.
The move is part of a restructuring programme which aims to achieve $4.5bn (£3.6bn) of cost cuts by 2022
