barnyarddog
5 years ago
Hong Kong (AFP) - HSBC is planning to lay off up to 10,000 staff, a report said Monday, just weeks after announcing the resignation of its chief executive and the cutting of 4,000 posts citing a weak global outlook.
..."We've known for years that we need to do something about our cost base, the largest component of which is people.
...axe two percent of its global workforce
And last month, Germany's second-largest lender Commerzbank said it plans to cut the equivalent of 4,300 full-time posts -- a tenth of its workforce -- and shut 200 branches as it restructures.
Deutsche Bank has announced 18,000 job cuts and France's Societe Generale 1,600.
https://news.yahoo.com/hsbc-planning-cut-10-000-more-posts-financial-054314315.html
mlkrborn
13 years ago
AT A GLANCE: UK Bank 1Q Earnings Hit By PPI, Regulatory Charges
Last update: 5/9/2011 7:58:10 AM
THE NEWS: HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC) wrapped up the U.K. banks' first-quarter earnings Monday with a disappointing set of results that highlighted the challenges for new Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver to improve the bank's revenue and cuts its costs.
It also weighed in on how much it expects to repay to customers mis-sold payment protection insurance on mortgages and other loans, after Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LYG) shocked the market last week with a GBP3.2 billion provision.
HSBC set aside $440 million and Barclays PLC (BCS) Monday said it is earmarking GBP1 billion to PPI customers.
It was largely a lackluster quarter for the country's banks, with only Asia-focused Standard Chartered PLC (STAN.LN) pleasing the market with record income.
BARCLAYS, reported April 27: First-quarter net profit slipped to GBP1.01 billion from GBP1.067 billion amid a sharp fall in revenue at its Barclays Capital investment-banking unit. Bank executives said uncertainty over coming regulatory requirements is hindering dividend growth, and that reducing credit exposure will be a priority to curb the effects of higher capital charges from 2013 on risky assets.
Barclays said the U.K. bank levy charge will be about GBP100 million for the first quarter. On May 9, it said it is provisioning GBP1 billion for PPI customers.
SANTANDER UK, reported April 28: The U.K. arm of Spain's Banco Santander SA (STD), said higher regulatory and liquidity costs hit profit, for a 2% fall in first-quarter net profit from a year earlier, to GBP419 million. It said it has had to pay more to replace maturing debt, and is holding GBP30 billion more in liquid assets than it did 15 months ago because of tougher liquidity regulation. The bank said it is paying out PPI claims as they arise and doesn't need to make a provision.
STANDARD CHARTERED, reported May 4: The U.K.-based, Asia-focused bank said it made record revenue in the first quarter, from double-digit growth in both retail and wholesale banking. Cost growth is still outpacing revenue growth but narrowing from 2010 levels. The bank repeated guidance that it aims to fully bridge that gap by the end of 2011. Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Malaysia and China all made strong contributions, the bank said. It never sold PPI products.
LLOYDS BANKING GROUP, reported May 5: The 41% state-owned bank made a surprise GBP3.2 billion provision to cover refunds to customers mis-sold payment protection insurance on mortgages, credit cards and personal loans, a higher figure than had been expected and putting pressure on its peers to drop a legal effort to stem costs. Because of the charge, as well as lower retail margins, the bank posted a GBP2.44 billion net loss in the first quarter, compared with a GBP169 million net profit in the first quarter of 2010. Attention is now on a strategic update due at the end of June from new CEO Antonio Horta-Osorio, who gave few clues Thursday on what it might hold.
ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP PLC (RBS), reported May 6: The bank's first-quarter loss widened from accounting charges and rising bad debts in Ireland, but its shares rose more than 3% Friday as investors and analysts took comfort from improvements in the bank's core divisions.
Group operating profit, stripping out tax, accounting charges and restructuring costs, was GBP1.05 billion in the three months--better than some analysts' expectations--compared with GBP882 million in the first three months of 2010. The 83% state-owned bank took GBP1.95 billion in impairments, down 27% from GBP2.68 billion and including GBP1.29 billion from its Ireland loan books. RBS still hasn't said what it might have to pay over PPI.
HSBC, reported May 9: The bank's costs soared in the first quarter from a series of one-off charges that included a $440 million provision over mis-sold payment protection insurance. However, net profit rose 58% as it took hefty tax credits in its U.S. business. Analysts said they were disappointed with flat revenue and a miss on pretax profit figures, and that they would probably revise their full-year estimates downward.
HSBC's cost-income ratio, or expenses relative to income, hit 60.9%, well above its target of around 52%. New CEO Gulliver on Wednesday will outline the bank's priorities and potential step-back from some countries and businesses. Europe and North America are seen as the biggest candidates for restructuring.
-By Margot Patrick, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9451; margot.patrick@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 09, 2011 07:58 ET (11:58 GMT)
GuruTrader
15 years ago
HSBC chairman says banks must promote ethics
HSBC chairman says banks must promote culture of ethics and integrity
On 6:04 am EDT, Wednesday October 7, 2009
Buzz up! 0 Print.LONDON (AP) -- The chairman of banking group HSBC says bankers owe the world an apology.
Stephen K. Green, speaking in an interview with BBC television broadcast Wednesday, said the world cannot do without banks, but that bankers need to learn the lessons of the financial crisis that has rocked the world's economy.
And the most important task for their directors, he said, is to promote a culture of ethics and integrity.
"I think the change in the public perception of the industry is entirely understandable. The banking industry has not covered itself in glory to say the least, and indeed the industry collectively owes the real world an apology for what has happened, and it also owes the real world a commitment to learn the lessons," he said.
Some of those lessons "are about governance and ethics and culture within the industry," said Green, who is also a Church of England priest.
"You can't do all this simply by setting rules and regulations, you have to expect the leadership in the industry to nurture a real culture of ethics and integrity and that's actually a continuing priority, perhaps the greatest priority of all as far as I am concerned for the boards of banks," he added.
In an earlier role as head of HSBC's investment banking and markets operations, Green canceled all bonuses in 2001 and 2002 during a stock market slump. A business which had not performed well for shareholders could not justify bonuses, he said at the time.
Some bankers and analysts left the company in protest, but Green was rewarded in 2003 with promotion to chief executive.
"You can't do without banks. You can't accept the proposition that all banks, that all banking is, as it were, kind of sinful or unattractive," said Green, who is now group chairman of HSBC Holdings PLC.
"No, you've got to find the way forwards. And indeed, the vast, vast majority of bankers want to be doing a professional job, want to be there with a sense of making a real commitment."
He added: "The tragedy is, it's a very small part of the industry that has produced all of the difficulties which has led to the breakdown of public trust."
goforthebet
15 years ago
HSBC Increases Samurai Bond Sale Twice in Four Days
By Yusuke Miyazawa
Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc’s banking unit increased the amount of its first Samurai bond sale to 119.4 billion yen ($1.3 billion) today, after almost doubling its initial plan on Sept. 11.
HSBC Bank Plc plans to sell 89.8 billion yen in five-year, fixed-rate bonds, and 29.6 billion yen of similar maturity floating- rate notes, according to a filing with Japan’s finance ministry. The total amount of bonds on offer was increased by 2.4 billion yen.
The increase came four days after the London-based lender raised its sale to 117 billion yen from the original plan of 60 billion yen, following HSBC’s meetings with potential investors in Tokyo on Sept. 8 and 9.
HSBC plans to sell its Samurai bonds on Sept. 17, the filing said. Samurai bonds are yen-denominated bonds sold by foreign entities in Japan.
To contact the reporter on this story: Yusuke Miyazawa in Tokyo at ymiyazawa3@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: September 14, 2009 22:28 EDT
MWM
16 years ago
Sources close to HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, have refused to rule out tapping its investors for new capital, amid speculation that it is considering a $20bn (£14bn) rights issue. HSBC chief executive, Michael Geoghegan, is expected to meet with key institutional investors in the Square Mile this week to gauge support for any cash call ahead of the bank’s full year results next Monday, writes the Independent on Sunday.
MWM
16 years ago
HSBC faces new onslaught from activist investor James Doran in New York The Observer
Sunday 22 February 2009 Article history Eric Knight, the activist investor, will ramp up his campaign against HSBC with renewed calls for the troubled banking group to dump its struggling US loans business amid fears that write-downs for 2008 could balloon to $20bn or more.
Knight, who has campaigned for sweeping changes at HSBC since 2007, is planning a fresh campaign to coincide with the banking group's full-year earnings announcement, scheduled for next Monday. In the past, Knight has called for the removal of HSBC's executives and for it to close down Household, its struggling US home loans arm.
Knight, who owns a swathe of HSBC shares through his Monaco-based Knight Vinke Asset Management - which has close connections to the California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers), the world's biggest pension fund - said: "There is a time to be quiet and a time to be active, and this is a time to be active."
It is understood that Knight wants HSBC to put Household into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a move he believes will end the erosion of HSBC's capital position. "It is getting worse every quarter," he said.
Sources suggested that HSBC would be forced to write down the value of troubled assets by substantially more than the $20bn already predicted by analysts. "$25bn would not be a surprise to anyone," one source said.
Knight, who is travelling in China, is expected to complete his latest analysis of HSBC's performance by the end of this week. A spokesman for HSBC declined to comment about Knight's plans but indicated the bank had no plans to put Household into bankruptcy.
The bank is one of the few in the world not to have sought capital from investors or governments since the credit crunch began.
MWM
16 years ago
HSBC hits 10-year low as Asian markets join global banking rout
20th February 2009 11:15
Shares in Europe's biggest lender, HSBC, hit their lowest point in a decade in Hong Kong on Friday (February 20th) amid negative speculation about the bank's forthcoming earnings and capital reserves.
The tumble helped to pull the benchmark Hang Seng Index down by 2.5 per cent as worldwide financial stocks were hammered by continuing fears over liquidity and concerns over institutions' exposure to a potential collapse in eastern Europe's banking system.
HSBC dropped 2.3 per cent to HK$53.80 (£4.95) per share, the lowest price since October 1998.
"The current economic down cycle is far from over, so the market is still trying to find a bottom," said Peter Lai of DBS Vickers.
The Hang Seng Index closed 324.19 points down at 12,.699.17. Reuters said the market was down 6.3 per cent over the week.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 dropped 1.9 per cent as fears over an eastern European banking recession sent shockwaves through financial stocks.
The country's biggest lender, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, lost 2.3 per cent, while Mizuho Financial Group plunged 4.1 per cent.
The Nikkei closed at 7,416.38, down 4.7 per cent over the week. Japan's broad-based Topix Index also closed down, hitting its lowest point since 1984 at 739.53.