HSBC announces it will cut 3,167 jobs across the UK

2,217 employees will be made redundant.

By Emily Wight Published 26 April 2012

Photograph: Getty Images

HSBC is to cut 3,167 jobs nationwide as part of its strategy to reduce its global workforce by 30,000 by the end of 2013.

Britain's biggest bank, which currently employs 52,000 people across the country, will create 950 new positions, bringing the total number of redundancies to 2,217. The cut will mainly hit senior and middle-management positions and HSBC say no branches will close.

The news comes after it was announced that the UK has sunk into a double-dip recession.

Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver last year announced that one in 10 jobs would be lost throughout the world as part of his aims to achieve $3.5bn (£2bn) within three years to boost HSBC's return on equity to 12-15 per cent.

In a statement the bank said: "The reduction of 3,167 roles in the UK follows the group's announcement last year that by the end of 2013, there would be around 30,000 fewer roles within the bank worldwide."

The move has been attacked by the worker's trade union Unite. National Officer David Fleming said: “The hypocrisy of CEO Stuart Gulliver taking home £8m, while claiming the bank must cut thousands of staff in order to save money, will not be lost on the workforce.

“Unite is outraged that bank workers serving HSBC customers daily are having their jobs cut which will mean service will suffer. Unite will now be meeting with and consulting with its members to plan the next steps in response to this shocking announcement.”

7,000 HSBC jobs were lost last year as part of the same cost-cutting procedure.

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Tags: business banking HSBC

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4 comments

Fri, 2012-06-15 08:42 — Robert Simonse (not verified)

The three year renminbi bonds which were sold are known as "dim sum" bonds, and the bank sold RMB 2bn - just under £200m. The sale was timed to occur with the launch of a new working group, backed by Bank of China, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered, which aims to more cum internationalise China's currency and consolidate London's role in the trade. The city currently holds 26 per cent of the offshore foreign exchange renminbi market, and holds RMB 109bn deposits. This remains a fraction of Hong Kong's apartmany RMB 566bn holdings, but London is only fighting for second place in the market, with Singapore its biggest potential rival.

Sun, 2012-04-29 20:18 — Eddy S (not verified)

HSBC is a bloated bank, it needs to get nimble and with additional costs to handle the all the increased regulations (including those coming from the EU), it needs ways to cut costs, this is good for the long term health of the bank. It also needs to look to china and the rest of asia for more growth this is where all the action is for the next few decades.

we are lucky for now that this bank is located in london as it can be headquartered in Hong Kong or Shangai tomorrow - it would certainly lower it's costs if it moved.