(qlmbusinessnews.com via theguardian.com – – Wed, 17th June 2020) London, Uk – –
UK-listed bank had paused the redundancies as coronavirus pandemic worsened
HSBC has restarted its plans to cut 35,000 jobs around the world, after pausing the redundancies as the coronavirus pandemic worsened.
The UK-listed bank had initially announced the plan to cut about 15% of its 235,000-strong workforce in February but put the process on hold in March because it did not want to leave workers unable to find new work during the various lockdowns.
The bank’s interim chief executive, Noel Quinn, wants to cut costs by £3.5bn, with the aim of increasing profitability as the lender chases opportunities in Asia.
Quinn had previously warned that there would be “meaningful” cuts in the UK. The main focus is expected to be head office operations as well as its global bank and markets business, which are largely London based.Q&A
Major job cuts announced so far
HSBC has not said what the impact will be on its UK branch network. In February it said the closure of 27 branches this year was not related to the restructuring plan but was a reflection of their declining use by customers.
Quinn wrote to staff on Tuesday warning of “challenging times ahead” and said the job cuts were “even more necessary” because of the impact of the pandemic on the bank’s profits, which halved in the first quarter. Loan losses could reach $11bn this year, the bank said in April.
HSBC has cancelled its dividend for the year after the Bank of England pressured the British banking sector to preserve cash to see them through the crisis and an expected deep recession.
“I wish I could say that the next few months will see a return to normality but that is unlikely to be the case,” Quinn wrote in a memo. “We could not pause the job losses indefinitely – it was always a question of ‘not if but when’.”
The majority of staff would be employed for most of 2020, Quinn wrote.
Unite, one of the unions representing workers in the bank’s UK branches, said it would oppose all compulsory redundancies.
Dominic Hook, Unite’s national officer, said: “The question that must be asked today is ‘why now, HSBC?’. At present, vast numbers of HSBC staff are making massive sacrifices working from home or taking risks travelling into offices and bank branches to help customers. Why now?”
HSBC has also faced criticism this month after it publicly endorsed China’s imposition of a new security law in Hong Kong. The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, accused the company of a “corporate kowtow”
By Jasper Jolly
