HSBC Holdings PLC, which eliminated 4,000 positions in Britain last year, said Thursday it would cut 3,500 more jobs as it shifts clerical work to Asia, where labor is cheaper.
The reduction of about 9% of the 41,000-strong U.K. work force will be partly offset by the addition of 1,000 branch employees, which will leave it with a net loss of 2,500 employees, said Richard Beck, a spokesman for Europe’s largest banking company.
Most of the jobs cut will be head-office administrative and support ones, and 950 positions will be moved to Asia, Mr. Beck said.
Andrew Hobson, who helps manage $1.2 billion of assets, including HSBC shares, at Exeter Investment Group, said HSBC is “taking advantage of its global reach” to lower costs. “This is a trend we’re seeing across the banking sector.”
Michael Geoghegan, who took over as the chief executive of HSBC’s U.K. bank in January, has been cutting costs at the unit, which produces about 25% of the company’s profits and accounts for 33% of its spending.
Lloyds TSB Group PLC, Barclays PLC, Aviva, and other companies are moving thousands of jobs to India, China, and Malaysia, where employees may be paid a tenth of the wages their counterparts in developed economies would receive.
In the past eight months HSBC has announced plans to transfer about 4,900 positions from Britain to Asia. Barclays has hired 550 people in India and cut 300 U.K. positions, while Lloyds has cut more than 1,000 jobs in Britain.
