SINGAPORE – HSBC’s restructuring is expected to lead to job cuts that will primarily involve those in senior roles as opposed to a company-wide cut, group chief executive Georges Elhedery said during the bank’s third-quarter earnings call on Oct 29.
Mr Elhedery clarified during the call that the bank’s overhaul, first announced on Oct 22, would primarily involve reducing duplicate senior roles.
“The primary reason for this reorganisation is to make us a simpler, leaner organisation with faster decision-making (and) stronger empowerment of our front-line people.”
He added that job cuts will take place swiftly, with the outcome of the restructuring to be disclosed in February 2025.
“In terms of cost savings, our current analysis shows that we expect net benefits from this exercise, with any upfront costs more than compensated for through a short payback period afterwards.”
HSBC said on Oct 22 that it will be simplifying its global operations into four business lines to cut existing inefficiencies such as the duplication of processes and decision-making.
The streamlined business will include standalone divisions in Britain and Hong Kong, and two other divisions comprising international wealth and premier banking, and corporate and institutional banking globally.
Under its current set-up, the bank runs three main divisions – commercial banking, global banking, and wealth and personal banking.
The reorganisation of its management into East and West lines comes after attempts in 2022 and 2023 to spin off the bank’s Asia business were not successful.
In Singapore, HSBC currently offers services like retail banking, wealth management, commercial banking, investment and private banking and insurance, according to a spokesperson for the bank.
It also offers other specialised services aimed at supporting businesses and investors, like trade financing, trustee services, and securities and capital markets offerings.
HSBC Singapore was not able to comment