HSBC Singapore Spared as Overhaul Resumes

The bank’s said that the city-state remains a growth market and will continue to hire talent in its bid to become the leading international bank.

Singapore will not be affected this year by the bank’s restructuring exercise that is expected to see it shed some 35,000 employees globally, people familiar with the matter said.

The bank said plans to hire more than 400 retail and private banking customer-facing employees by 2023 also remains on track.

Since 2018, HSBC Singapore has grown its headcount by 10 percent and has invested in our premises, digital capability and propositions in order to grow our customer base and market share,» a spokesperson said, the newspaper reported. «These investments and growth ambitions will continue.

Yesterday, HSBC lifted its moratorium on job cuts to about 15 percent of its workforce, announced in March at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn, who unveiled the overhaul in February, told the bank’s 235,000 global staff in a memo that the exercise is even more necessary today.

The British lender is currently at the center of a controversy over its support for Beijing’s new security law for Hong Kong, the bank’s most important market.