(1 February 2016 – Europe) HSBC may be imposing a hiring and pay freeze across the bank globally in 2016, sources told reporters.
According to the sources, an email was distributed to staff on Friday detailing the latest cost-saving measures.
The bank, Europe’s largest, said last year that it planned to slash nearly 20 percent of jobs and reduce staff at its investment bank by a third in response to slow economic growth and tighter global regulation of bank balance sheet risk.
“As flagged in our investor update we have targeted significant cost reductions by the end of 2017,” an HSBC spokesperson told Reuters.
The news follows HSBC’s board meeting last week to discuss relocating its headquarters to Hong Kong and to focus on the bank’s strategy.