ADVERTISEMENT

HSBC Aims to Finalize French Investment Bank Cuts by 2022

HSBC Aims to Finalize French Investment Bank Cuts by 2022

HSBC Holdings Plc’s French unit aims to cut more than a third of its Paris-based investment banking and markets team before 2022, according to a union website.

The bank expects voluntary departures, but may need to dismiss some staff in the 678-person global banking and markets team if needed, the union said. HSBC introduced the plan to employee representatives on Monday, according to Les Echos.

The bank confirmed it had approached the union with a plan. It aims to “reallocate capital and resources to overcome the structural challenges in this business, to focus on profitable activities, reduce the cost base and thus safeguard our competitiveness,” the company said in an emailed statement Tuesday. A spokeswoman declined to make further comments.

HSBC is reducing its 235,000-strong workforce by about 35,000 over the next few years as part of an overhaul announced in February by Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn. The bank resuscitated the plan last month after a pause during the Covid-19 pandemic, joining a number of European lenders making savings in the face of persistent low interest rates, volatile markets and costly technology projects.

Read More: HSBC, Deutsche, UniCredit’s 61,000 Job Cuts Are Tip of Iceberg

HSBC is also in the process of selling its French retail banking arm, which comprises 250 branches and several thousand employees. The process has attracted Oddo BHF, Cerberus Capital Management and AnaCap, while talks with La Banque Postale and Societe Generale slowed because of coronavirus pandemic, Les Echos reported in May.

The strategic review of HSBC France’s retail division is still ongoing, the spokeswoman said.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.