The major British bank HSBC Holdings $HSBA (+1,02 %) is facing a new wave of redundancies in investment banking. The company plans to begin the next round of job cuts as early as next week. The move is part of a comprehensive restructuring under the leadership of new CEO Georges Elhedery, who wants to make Europe's largest bank more efficient and competitive.
According to insider information, the new wave of redundancies will initially start in Asia before being gradually extended to other regions. It remains unclear how many jobs will ultimately be affected. HSBC already started to reduce positions within the markets department last week. From today, deeper cuts are to follow across the entire investment banking division. The redundancies will be spread over several weeks and months.
The reasons for the job cuts are manifold: on the one hand, inefficient structures and duplicate staffing are to be reduced, on the other hand, the performance-based departure of employees will play a role. "HSBC is focused on strengthening its market leadership in areas where the bank has a clear competitive advantage," a company spokesperson explained to Bloomberg.
Since taking office in September, Elhedery has already made far-reaching changes to the management structure. He reduced the number of members of the top management body by a third, and Bloomberg reported in December that more than 40% of the top 175 managers could be affected by the cuts. The restructuring is expected to be completed by June, while more detailed information is expected on February 19 with the publication of the annual results.