HSBC will press ahead with plans to shift capital from underperforming businesses, cut costs and strip out layers of management, despite problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Chief Executive Noel Quinn said HSBC would proceed “wherever possible” with a transformation plan outlined in February, but had paused most of the associated redundancies.
Europe’s biggest bank announced its latest cost-cutting plan before the coronavirus spread across Europe, leading investors to question whether HSBC would be able to carry it out.
The bank has said it will pause job cuts in order to avoid disruption and leaving staff unable to find work elsewhere, but Quinn’s re-commitment to the February strategy in a filing ahead of its annual shareholding meeting will remove some uncertainty.
Quinn has in recent weeks cut several top roles in HSBC’s investment bank and reshuffled his lieutenants, Reuters reported on Monday.
HSBC’s annual meeting, which usually attracts hundreds of shareholders as well as protesters eager to grill the bank on issues ranging from climate change to pensions for former staff, is this year not open to outsiders.
In common with other big companies, the bank is instead holding a closed meeting, with a minimum quorum of company directors and shareholders.
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