HONG KONG, May 15 (Reuters) - HSBC said onWednesday that the bank would target an additional $2 billion to$3 billion in cost savings between 2014 and 2016, as the bankaxes jobs and sells noncore businesses with less than a yearleft in the first phase of its restructuring plan.
The bank has already achieved $4 billion of annualisedsustainable cost savings under a restructuring plan launched inMay 2011. "We will continue to exert tight cost disciplinewhilst streamlining processes and procedures," Chief ExecutiveStuart Gulliver said in a statement on Wednesday.
In a strategy update, HSBC re-affirmed a targetrange for return on equity of 12 to 15 percent, and said it wason track with its cost-savings plan, having cut $80 billion inrisk-weighted assets from the bank's balance sheet throughdisposals of 52 businesses worldwide.
The bank's first-quarter results last Tuesday showed 46,000fewer staff across the bank.
This restructuring means the bank is on track to reachGulliver's goals of getting costs below 52 percent of revenuesand return on equity above 12 percent by this year.