Of Special Interest
Filters
- Newslink Trends-The Global Strategic Perspective
- Juniper Research says digital wallet users to exceed 4.4 billion by 2025, as mobile drives digital payments’ revolution
- Criminals exploit COVID-19 pandemic with rise in scams targeting victims online
- Equifax says Open Banking proving pivotal to pandemic lending
- Consumer confidence in banks, credit card providers and investments remain stable as demand supercharges digital finance says Toluna research
- Mintos says Europeans are starting to embrace investing
- US banks see IT modernisation as a way to improve customer experience
- Risk mitigation in global trade depends on digitisation-Andrew Raymond, CEO, Bolero International comments
- Juniper Research new study says the volume of B2B payments facilitated by non-banks will exceed 53 billion in 2022, from a COVID-related low of 38 billion in 2020
- CMA issues fifth publication over 3 years of the service quality league table of personal and business current account providers
- Barclays says scammers take advantage of COVID-19, cashing in on nations’ uncertainty
- S&P Global report says financial market infrastructure sector's earnings likely to cool off In second half
- Global banking market capitalisation slumps by over 30% amid pandemic says Buyshares research
- Digital wallet spend in Europe & North America to increase by 40% in 2019, finds study
- Juniper forecasts mobile money transactions will exceed 200 billion by 2024
- Banks can save the world from climate change, says former UN climate chief
- Research by NatWest reveals gender divide over attitudes to saving
- Europe’s big bank problem: too much capital is trapped in the US, says Scope
- Later-Life lending market set to almost double in the next 10 years, finds report
- Barclays/Cebr report challenges nation to think differently about wealth
- Fifth of UK investors looking to debt investment, new research reveals
- Regtech will play a more important role in PSD2, says Mitek
- Banks turn to Fintech partnerships to improve customer experience, finds Fraedom
- New industry code to tackle fraud must deliver, says Which?
- New TTF report highlights loss of trust in financial services
- Arxan highlights financial app vulnerability epidemic
- SAS asks whether banks really need to choose between operations and innovation
- Which? raises alarm as almost 1,700 free ATMs become fee-charging
- Financial wellness affects half of peoples’ mental or physical health, finds report
- Study finds traditional financial institutions embrace Fintech disruption
- Grass is greener for environmentally friendly businesses, finds Barclays
- Prospective homeowners would consider a 40-year mortgage to escape renting, finds Santander
- Millennials’ needs are changing the face of banking industry, says new report
- FS is putting consumer data at risk by failing to protect mobile apps, says Arxan
- A lack of belief in their ability holds 28% women back in work, says Cambridge & Counties
- ‘Which?’ reveals Scotland has lost over a third of its bank branches in eight years
- Next downturn unlikely to be as bad as 2008, according to S&P
- FCA reveals findings from first cryptoassets consumer research
- US consumers favour single mobile app for banking and payments
- Banks suffering major IT shutdowns every day, ‘Which?’ reveals
- The US will be a key offshore centre in 2019, says GlobalData
- Debit industry changes markedly in 10 years of the Debit Issuer Study
- UK's ‘Big Five’ face ‘too big to compete’ as small challengers secure stellar returns
- Banks as vulnerable now as before crash, says new study
- Leverage ratio a constant conundrum for European and US banks, says SNL
2nd August 2011
HSBC - expense cuts not straight to the bottom line
Opinion
HSBC provided some details of its expense cuts that were promised earlier this year within its half year report. The firm promised expense cuts of between $2.5bn and $3.5bn by 2013 earlier this year.
The first thing that became obvious is that much of the expense cuts are from the sale of retail operations. Therefore whilst acknowledging that the units are low profitability, the expense cuts come with a loss of income as well, so this is not circa $3bn transferred to the pre-tax profit line of the income statement. The best example of this in practice is the recent media headlines mentioning 30,000 job cuts at HSBC . Whilst this makes a sensational headline it is not entirely accurate, a better description would be: HSBC will employ 30,000 less. The bank is instigating a 5,000 job cut amongst ongoing operational units and 25,000 in retail operations that will in the main be transferred with the sale of the units. The sale of nearly 200 branches in the US to First Niagra is a first step in this process.
The 5,000 actual cuts is not new cuts either, with much of the reduction previously announced. It includes restructuring in Latin America, the US, the UK, France and the Middle East. In answer to questions HSBC said that it did not envisage further UK job cuts this year beyond those already announced.
Of course, the bank intends to increase revenues in other areas to make up for the fall in retail banking revenues - and more. It mentioned success in wealth management particularly in Asia and records funds under management.
[Newslink: See HSBC profits up on lower tax and lower losses
and
Newslink: HSBC Sells US retail branches to First Niagara ]