HSBC cuts 14,000 more jobs

HSBC has announced it will be axing 14,000 jobs globally by end 2016, bringing the total number of redundancies from the bank to more than 56,000.

The bank has been focused on managing costs since the 2008 downturn, and CEO Stuart Gulliver has announced he would “fixate on cost” this year.

HSBC is expected to save more than US$3 billion (S$3.76b) annually by 2016; however the bank is still far from achieving its target to keep cost below 52% of revenue, Reuters reported.

"We're clearly hitting on the costs, but we're missing on the cost efficiency ratio because of revenue, which is hard for us to control," Gulliver told reporters.

This latest round of cuts is expected to affect non-core markets including Europe and South America, though a HSBC spokesperson said "all geographies and business will be reviewed but there are no specific details”.

"We're not even halfway through unlocking the value in HSBC. The strategy is not changing, it is working," Gulliver said.

Jonathan Hollands, managing director of executive search firm Carraway Group, told CNN HSBC is far from done with layoffs, and expects more redundancies as the bank continues to restructure.

However, he believes the bank’s actions are something other financial firms in the region should take note of, saying DBS and OCBC “could do with that sort of realignment".