By Peter Hobson
LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - HSBC Holdings Plc has
decided to close its industrial metals business, it told Reuters
on Friday, as Europe's largest bank pushes ahead with plans to
cut around 35,000 jobs.
HSBC was a small player in industrial metals. It exited the
business in 2005 but had in recent years began to slowly
re-enter, with around 2-3 staff in the unit.
Returns were too low to justify its continuation, sources
said. "We remain focused on growing our leading position in
precious metals," an HSBC spokesman said, declining to comment
further.
The 35,000 job losses from HSBC's staff of 235,000 are part
of a wider restructuring to cut $4.5 billion in costs as profits
fall and economic forecasts point to a challenging time ahead.
(Reporting by Peter Hobson; editing by Jason Neely)