(Adds bank's total headcount)
Oct 6 (Reuters) - HSBC Holdings Plc is planning to
cut up to 10,000 jobs, more than 4% of its workforce, as interim
Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn seeks to reduce costs across
the banking group, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
The plan represents the lender's most ambitious attempt in
years to cut costs, the newspaper said https://www.ft.com/content/b43e7b3e-e6c7-11e9-b112-9624ec9edc59,
citing two people briefed on the matter. It said the cuts will
focus mainly on high-paid roles.
HSBC declined to comment on the FT report.
The bank had 237,685 full-time employees at the end of June
2019, according to its 2019 interim report.
HSBC could announce the beginning of the latest cost-cutting
drive and job cuts when it reports third-quarter results later
this month, the FT said, citing one person briefed on the
matter.
Quinn became interim CEO in August after the bank announced
the surprise departure of John Flint, saying it needed a change
at the top to address "a challenging global environment."
Flint's exit was a result of differences of opinion with
chairman Mark Tucker over topics including approaches to cutting
expenses, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters in
August.
Any job cuts implemented as part of the latest plan would
come on top of the redundancies announced earlier, the FT said.
HSBC said it would be laying off about 4,000 people this
year, and issued a gloomier business outlook due to an
escalation of a trade war between China and the United States,
an easing monetary policy cycle, unrest in its key Hong Kong
market and Brexit.
Former HSBC Group CEO Stuart Gulliver announced plans to cut
30,000 jobs when he took the job in 2011 as part of a programme
to cut $3.5 billion in costs over three years and raise the
bank's return on equity to 12-15%.
(Reporting by Shubham Kalia and additional reporting by Rama
Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Louise
Heavens)