HSBC to reduce costs by cutting 8,000 UK jobs

In an effort to boost saving and reduce overall spending, HSBC put forward plans to cut 8,000 of its 48,000 workers in the UK.

The cuts will come from both the investment banking and the retail section of the UK banking giant and will be a part of what could total 25,000 jobs being cut globally. HSBC currently employs 266,000 workers throughout the world, meaning that almost 10% of its workforce could soon be out of a job.

Stuart Gulliver, Chief Executive of HSBC, has maintained that the jobs will be cut by ìnatural attritionî, a claim that should satisfy Unite officer Dominic Hook, who has called upon the bank to make sure that any job losses are done by voluntary or natural means.

Hook told the BBC: ìitís really sad that all our members, all the hard work theyíve done to try to get the bank back working properly after all the scandals of the last few years, are going to be paying with their jobs.î

This comes as HSBC plan to rebrand their High Street branches in the UK, though they have not yet decided on a new moniker. One option is to widen the First Direct brand ñ HSBCís online bank based in the UK. The bank also plans to get rid of 100 of its 1,057 branches in the UK.

The rebranding is a part of HSBCís effort to comply with new government regulations forcing more transparency regarding the separation between the bankís retail and investment banking sectors. The government regulations require the bank to formally separate the two operations.

HSBCís job cuts globally a part of a plan to reduce costs by as much as £3.25 billion in an effort to fight against the problems with globalisation of the banking industry and to claw back both trust and confidence from customers.

Mr Gulliver has released a statement saying that ìwe [HSBC] recognise that the world has changed and we need to change and we need to change with it. That is why we are outlining the followingÖ strategic actions that will further transform our organisation.î He echoed and reinforced HSBCís plan to increase investment in Asia, claiming that the continent is ìexpected to show high growth and become the centre of the global trade over the next decadeî and that HSBCís action ìwill allow [them] to capture expected future growth opportunitiesî.

However, an analyst from Asian company Mizuho Securities, James Antos, has expressed worries about HSBCís new plan.

ìSlaughtering staff is not necessariy the solution unless management makes the bank considerably less complexî

These claims come amid whispers that HSBC may in fact soon relocate itself, becoming based in Hong Kong.