HSBC cuts 840 IT jobs in Britain

HSBC cut 840 IT jobs in Britain, the first round of an expected 8,000 layoffs to come by the end of 2017.

Reuters reports:

Most of the staff affected were being informed about the cuts on Monday, according to a source familiar with the matter.The majority of the roles are based in London, Sheffield and Tankersley and all the jobs will disappear by the end of this year, the source said."As part of a global relocation exercise, around 840 non-customer-facing IT roles will transfer from the UK to other sites around the world," John Hackett, chief operating officer of HSBC UK, said in a statement. The bank unveiled its three-year restructuring plan last year, designed to pare back its sprawling global network by shutting underperforming businesses to improve earnings hurt by high compliance costs, fines and low interest rates. The restructuring will eventually eliminate one job in five around the world, and around a sixth of jobs in Britain. When the restructuring plan was announced, Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gulliver said most of the job losses in Britain would come from employees leaving on their own accord.The Unite union said many of the jobs will now be offshored to lower income countries such as India, China and Poland.

The Register writes:

The redundancies are part a wider cost cutting drive that will see the bank slash 8,000 positions in Blighty and a total of 50,000 worldwide by the end of next year, with the aim of saving $5bn annually. "HSBC’s decision to axe so many IT jobs is as ruthless as it is reckless," said Dominic Hook, Unite nationsal officer for finance. "For almost a year staff have been left in the dark about their futures, only to be told that before being shown the door they're expected to train someone in India or China who will do their job for less money," he added.

The Guardian notes:

Profits at HSBC fell in the first three months of 2016, raising questions among investors about its promise to raise the value of the dividend. Pretax profits fell in the first three months of the year by 14% to $6.1bn (£4.2bn), which the bank described as “a resilient performance despite challenging market conditions”. If currency movements and other one-off items were excluded, profits tumbled by 18% to $5.4bn. The bank announced its three-year restructuring plan last year, designed to pare back its sprawling global network by shutting underperforming businesses to improve earnings hurt by high compliance costs, fines and low interest rates.