Georges Elhedery, the boss of HSBC, will reportedly kick off more job cuts next week as he reveals his radical overhaul of the bank has saved £1.2billion.
Elhedery took over from Noel Quinn in September and launched a sweeping re-organisation including cuts to its deal making and advisory business in the UK, Europe and America.
He is expected to reveal the extent of savings in the annual results next Wednesday, the Financial Times reported.
And a fresh round of cuts at the investment bank is expected to begin as soon as Monday, according to a report on Bloomberg News.
HSBC told Bloomberg it was ‘focused on increasing leadership and market share in the areas where it has the greatest opportunities to grow’.
The bank said in October it would combine some commercial and investment banking businesses, and installed a new leadership structure.
Making changes: Georges Elhedery (pictured) took over from Noel Quinn in September and launched a sweeping re-organisation
It is looking to carve up its operations into four divisions: UK; Hong Kong; corporate and institutional banking; and wealth banking.
Reports suggest the restructuring has enabled HSBC to cut the number of bankers doubling up across its different geographic markets, as well as senior executives, reducing bureaucracy.
Analysts expect the results will show profits for 2024 rose 5.7 per cent to £25.4billion thanks to lower-than-expected bad debts and a strong performance from its personal banking and wealth management arm.
HSBC is also tipped to hike its full-year dividend by 38 per cent to 84 US cents per share, a payout worth £11.9billion to shareholders.
And it is expected to say it will return up to £2.4billion to investors through a share buy-back to be completed before its first-quarter results in the spring. Last year, it unveiled buy-backs worth £1.6billion.
Elhedery will also update the HSBC outlook to take into account the uncertain interest rate environment. When he kicked off his overhaul in October, he said changes would make it ‘simpler, more dynamic and agile’.
Although it will carry on offering investment banking in Asia and the Middle East, Elhedery’s shake-up ends its long-running, costly attempt to build an investment bank franchise capable of challenging the likes of Barclays, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
Shore Capital analyst Gary Greenwood said that the investment banking arm cuts were ‘not a surprise’ and that Elhedery was right to take action.
He added: ‘They’ve had a go, but they never really had the scale to significantly compete.’
DIY INVESTING PLATFORMS
AJ Bell
AJ Bell
Easy investing and ready-made portfolios
Hargreaves Lansdown
Hargreaves Lansdown
Free fund dealing and investment ideas
interactive investor
interactive investor
Flat-fee investing from £4.99 per month
Saxo
Saxo
Get £200 back in trading fees
Trading 212
Trading 212
Free dealing and no account fee
Affiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.
