Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Europe’s largest bank has announced plans to cut up to 8000 jobs in the United Kingdom as part of a plan to reduce its global workforce by up to 25,000-50,000 by the end of 2017 (see related World factsheet). Prior to this announcement, HSBC employed 48,000 staff in the United Kingdom. The reduction will see one in six employees losing their jobs and closure of hundreds of high street branches. In a briefing to shareholders on 9 June 2015, HSBC reiterated that it is considering whether to relocate its global headquarters from the UK back to Asia, after moving from Hong Kong in 1992. The company has said the outcome of this decision will be announced by the end of 2015. Separately, changes to UK law means that HSBC is required to separate its UK retail banking operations from its investment banking business by 2019. HSBC has currently ruled out breaking up the UK business in order to comply with the regulations, saying that a new ring-fenced UK retail business will be headquartered in Birmingham, trade under a different name and be likely to employ around 26,000 workers.
UPDATE 16/05/2016: Further details have emerged of the planned job cuts at HSBC. The company has announced that 840 IT jobs are to be cut from its centres in London and its Tankersley and Sheffield sites in Yorkshire. It is understood that these jobs will be moved overseas, though it has not been specified where these jobs will relocate to. The jobs will be cut by the end of 2016.
UPDATE 24/01/2017: HSBC has announced details of further branch closures to take place in 2017. The 62 additional closures mark the final stage in the company's restructure. Approximately 180 jobs are reported to be affected by these latest plans, though HSBC has said it will look to redeploy staff, wherever possible. The branch closures will take place either in the summer of 2017 or at the end of the year; details on exactly which branches will close at which time, are not available.
Eurofound (2015), HSBC, Closure in United Kingdom, factsheet number 83663, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/83663.
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