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Don Weinland

HSBC Holdings shares closed down 0.41 per cent at HK$73.25 on Tuesday after the bank said it would slash up to 25,000 jobs worldwide and sell off its troubled businesses in Turkey and Brazil.
“HSBC intends to sell its operations in Turkey and Brazil, but plans to maintain a presence in Brazil to serve large corporate clients with respect to their international needs,” it said in a regulatory filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
By the end of 2017, it will look to save US$4.5-5 billion per year and hit a return on equity of 10 per cent.
Watch: HSBC to shed up to 50,000 jobs and refocus efforts in Asia

Chief executive Stuart Gulliver told a later investor conference there would be no headcount reduction in Hong Kong.
The cost-reduction strategy will rely heavily on reducing full-time employees across the globe, the bank said in notes it plans to present to investors in London early on Tuesday. In total, it will look to cut 22,000 to 25,000 jobs, with up to 13,000 of those cuts coming out of operations roles.
The headcount reduction did not include the 25,000 employees in Turkey or Brazil, which would take the total number up to 50,000.
The British bank will also aim to reduce its risk-weighted assets by some US$290 billion, including a reduction of its global banking and markets division to less than a third of the groups’ total risk-weighted assets.
In the filing, HSBC also noted that it would conclude its review of its tax domicile in Britain by the end of the year. Many industry watchers highly anticipate the bank to return to Hong Kong.
The announcements were well expected by analysts and even criticised for regurgitating the reform trajectory it has followed since Gulliver took over in 2011.
“Good move, wrong timing and already expected,” Chirantan Barua, a senior analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in London, said in a note, referring to the decision to exit Brazil and Turkey. “HSBC – in its release today – has failed to bring out anything radically different from moves which have been widely expected for some months now.”
Last month, investors learned that HSBC’s Brazilian business could be on the chopping block after the chief executive of the Brazilian unit of Spanish bank Banco Santander told the media that HSBC had started the initial process for selling off operations there.
The bank’s business in South America’s biggest economy notched pre-tax losses of 247 million pounds in 2014.
In Turkey, where it reported a pre-tax loss of 152 million pounds last year, media have said HSBC was in talks with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China on the sales of its retail business, which has accounted for the majority of the pain starting in 2012.
Dutch bank ING was another contender, according to media reports, but for the whole operation in Turkey.
Gulliver’s original plan in 2011 aimed for a 12-15 per cent annual return on equity. After slipping far below that, the bank set a vague target of “more than 10 per cent” over the next three years.
Cost targets also disappointed earlier this year. At 67.3 per cent in 2014, HSBC’s cost-efficiency ratio was almost 20 percentage points above the rate that Gulliver marked out in 2011.


HSBC to cut 25,000 jobs worldwide; sell off Brazil, Turkey operations

Lee Kwok-keung, Chairman of Hong Kong & Kowloon Trades Union Council, protests at the Headquarter of HSBC. Photo: Sam Tsang

A man walks past the HSBC offices in Hong Kong as the banking giant announced on Tuesday plans to sell off its businesses in Brazil and Turkey. Photo: Reuters

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No breakdown given on jobs to be lost in Hong Kong; HSBC shares edge up


.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}Update | HSBC to cut 25,000 jobs worldwide; sell off Brazil, Turkey operations

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}No breakdown given on jobs to be lost in Hong Kong; HSBC shares edge up

Update | HSBC to cut 25,000 jobs worldwide; sell off Brazil, Turkey operations

No breakdown given on jobs to be lost in Hong Kong; HSBC shares edge up