HSBC to slash over 10,000 jobs

HONG KONG: HSBC will slash more than 10,000 jobs as part of the global banking giant's recently announced cost-cutting drive, a report said.

Broadcaster Sky News said senior executives at the bank "are close to finalising costs cuts that will result in thousands of jobs being axed across the bank's sprawling global empire."

The report on Wednesday said London-headquartered HSBC may chop more than 10,000 positions across its operations, citing unnamed sources.

A bank spokeswoman in Hong Kong on Thursday declined comment on the report.

HSBC shares in the Chinese territory were down about 1.2 per cent at HK$76.5 ($9.81) in afternoon trade.

The cuts would come from trimming the company's head office functions and closing retail banking operations "no longer deemed to be core to the bank's future," the report said.

In May, HSBC said it would slash costs by up to US$3.5 billion by 2013, with its new chief executive Stuart Gulliver saying the savings would be ploughed back into fast-growing markets around the world, especially in Asia.

The lender has already said it would be hiring at least 2,000 extra people in mainland China and Singapore over the next five years, as it seeks to tap the fast-growing Asia Pacific market.

HSBC was founded in Hong Kong and Shanghai in 1865 and the bank regards Asia as its most important region. It is listed on the London and Hong Kong exchanges. -- AFP