HSBC says Singapore recruitment plan still on track

Singapore

SINGAPORE is unlikely to be hit hard by HSBC's latest layoffs that threaten up to 10,000 workers - or 4 per cent of its 238,000 global headcount - as the Republic is considered among the markets it's counting on for growth.

Plans to add more than 400 retail and private banking front-end staff in Singapore by 2023 are also still on track, HSBC told The Business Times.

The upcoming job slashes are part of a cost-cutting drive by new interim chief executive Noel Quinn, according to reports on Monday.

They come on top of an earlier round of cuts announced in August that axed 4,700 roles in more "senior" positions, revealed at the same time as the surprise ousting of former HSBC chief executive John Flint after just 18 months on the job.

HSBC declined to comment on whether Singapore will be affected by the newest round of cuts, but reiterated an earlier statement by its chairman Mark Tucker back in August this year that Singapore is a market that the bank wanted to gain scale in.

"Singapore is one of the eight strategic countries that we are investing in, we are putting focus and support to and remains key to our overall Asian and South East Asian ambition. So Singapore is very much part of the future, part of the growth of the group," he told the media following the bank's half-year results.

Despite the global cost-cutting exercise, HSBC has seen a string of high-profile hires of late in its Singapore office.

In September, it appointed ex-Deutsche banking veteran Philip Lee as vice-chairman, South-east Asia, for its global banking franchise in a newly-created role.

And in a move that could be seen as bolstering its domestic presence here, HSBC Singapore added three senior hires in its retail banking and wealth management unit, while its insurance arm also added three senior executives to its management team in the past few months.

The bank, which makes about 80 per cent of its profits in Asia, is facing increasing pressure from the global environment, as the US-China trade war, low interest rates, Brexit and more significantly, unrest in Hong Kong - HSBC's single biggest market - weigh on its outlook.

It is not immediately clear which areas the bank is looking to axe, but HSBC's all four divisions could be fair game, with loss-making Europe looking the most vulnerable.

HSBC is reportedly trying to find savings in each of the bank's four major divisions of retail banking and wealth management, commercial banking, global banking and markets, and global private banking.

Internal sources say the bank is questioning why the bank has "so many people in Europe" even as Asia remains its biggest source of growth, adding that HSBC intends to continue hiring "revenue-generating" staff in high-growth regions in Asia, according to reports.

The bank is expected to announce its cost-cutting plan when it releases its third-quarter results later this month, but this could be brought forward after the news leaked on Monday.

Job cuts announced by banks this year are reaching 60,000, with most of them in Europe amid negative interest rates and a lacklustre economy. Other European banks that have made headlines for their job cuts this year include Deutsche Bank with 18,000, Commerzbank with 4,300 and France's Société Générale at 1,600.