HSBC refreshes plan to increase returns for investors

London — HSBC is set to slash about 15% of its workforce and is taking $7.3bn of charges in its latest attempt to revive its fortunes since the global financial crisis.

The London-based lender is targeting cost cuts by $4.5bn as it faces challenges including Hong Kong protests and the coronavirus.

HSBC, which earns the bulk of its profits in Asia, is still hunting for a permanent CEO while interim boss Noel Quinn runs the lender and seeks to convince the undecided board he is the right person at the top.

“Parts of our business are not delivering acceptable returns,” Quinn said in a statement as part of its full-year earnings on Tuesday. “We are therefore outlining a revised plan to increase returns for investors.”

Quinn, who is also exiting several business lines, said “it’s fair to say that our direction of travel will be to move the current headcount of 235,000 to be closer to 200,000 over the next three years”.

HSBC shares had their biggest drop in six months in Hong Kong and dropped as much as 3.2% in trading. The bank warned its 2020 outlook is uncertain.

Cutbacks at HSBC will extend into parts of its European and US investment banking businesses, particularly in fixed income. In the US, assets linked to its trading operations will be nearly halved under the new plan. HSBC is also scaling back its retail network by 30%.

The lender will instead bolster its investment banking units in Asia and the Middle East.

A refreshed strategy is a key plank to chair Mark Tucker’s plans to transform HSBC as questions have mounted over its relatively poor returns given its exposure to many of the world’s fastest-growing economies, in particular China where it has focused its investment.

The $7.3bn in charges includes $4bn linked to its global banking and markets division, which houses the investment bank. A further $2.5bn stems from its European commercial bank.

HSBC’s adjusted pretax profits of $22.2bn beat analysts’ forecasts, despite the multibillion-dollar charge taken against the cost of the restructuring. HSBC had been forecast to report an adjusted pretax profit of $21.8bn, according to the company-compiled estimate of 18 analysts.

The company also suspended its share buyback programme for 2020 and 2021.

Previous boss John Flint was ousted as CEO last year in part over Tucker’s concerns the executive lacked the ability to turnaround the lender’s performance. Quinn, Tucker and CFO Ewen Stevenson then began developing plans aimed at shrinking the bank’s cost base and focusing on higher returning markets, while curtailing exposures to regions and operations deemed subpar.

The bank continued to reshuffle its senior ranks and said private banking head Antonio Simoes would leave the London-based lender later this year, after the unit was folded into its wider retail and wealth business.

Bloomberg