HSBC to shed local jobs?

Tuesday 09 June 2015

A question mark hangs over hundreds of jobs in Jersey after HSBC announced that 8,000 UK posts would be cut as part of a global effort to reduce staff numbers by 25,000.

There has been no comment locally on job cuts, but the move follows on from HSBC’s announcement in April that they are considering moving their headquarters out of the UK.

HSBC is one of the major banking employers in Jersey, with hundreds of local staff.

Any significant cut by HSBC could have a major effect on the industry here – banking provides almost four-fifths of the total profits of the finance sector in Jersey, and  accounts for 4,700 of the total 12,770 people who work in that sector. 

This morning’s announcement says that the 48,000 staff that the bank employs in the UK will be reduced by 8,000 as part of a package of measures to save $5 billion by getting rid of around one-in-ten of its 266,000-strong global workforce.

Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver announced the job cuts this morning, saying: “We recognise the world has changed and we need to change with it.”

In a statement in April that heavily hinted at a move back towards Asian markets, Group Chairman Douglas Flint said: “As part of the broader strategic review taking place, the Board has therefore now asked management to commence work to look at where the best place is for HSBC to be headquartered in this new environment.

“The question is a complex one and it is too soon to say how long this will take or what the conclusion will be; but the work is underway.”