HSBC News

Unite, Britain's biggest union, has expressed fury over HSBC's decision to cut jobs and said that it has not ruled out balloting its members for industrial action.

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HSBC said that 1,149 roles will cut, with changes reflecting the changing nature of customer behaviour and regulation.

The bank said that a total of 3,166 employees will be impacted by the changes but hopes that through the creation of 2,017 new roles that it is expected that the majority of these roles will be filled by displaced employees.

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Better serving our customers, particularly for their wealth management needs, is essential if we are to fulfil our aspiration of becoming the world's leading international bank. These proposals, together with the recent removal of all sales targets for our employees and the complete decoupling of incentives from those sales, mean our customers can expect us to fully focus on serving their needs and do the right thing. Evolving and improving our culture will take time but the changes announced today are another step in the right direction.

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Unite has called the decision to cut 2,000 jobs at HSBC, "a disgrace" and accused the bank of cutting the jobs "in the search for ever greater profits."

HSBC is making staff suffer in the search for ever greater profits. The bank's behaviour is a disgrace. After making proposals to slash pensions, holidays and sick pay the bank is now slashing even more jobs. Staff are at the end of their tether and we will be asking them in due course if they are prepared to take part in a strike ballot to oppose this unprecedented attack by this very profitable bank.

The cuts HSBC is making will affect the whole business and will mean fewer personal advisors serving more customers and small and medium size businesses getting less support when they should be getting more. These cuts are about putting profits before people and will do nothing to improve service or the image of the banking industry.

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HSBC is to axe more than 2,000 jobs, the Unite union said, which warned of possible industrial action over the cuts.

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TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady said HSBC boss Stuart Gulliver's £2m bonus illustrated a need for the government to "curb executive pay":

The culture of entitlement is alive and well in the City.

At a time when real wages are falling for the vast majority of people, the banking sector is continuing to hand out huge bonuses as if they were pocket change.

The government should be following the example of Switzerland and making a concerted effort to curb executive pay.

However, George Osborne seems intent on preserving the status quo by refusing to accept the case for wide-ranging reform.

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HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver received a bonus of just under £2m as part of a total pay and benefits package worth £7.4m.

The overall figure, which compares with £8m a year earlier, includes his base salary of £1.25m, around £1.2m of benefits including pension entitlement, plus long-term share incentive awards worth £3m.

Mr Gulliver's bonus payment will be deferred and subject to possible clawback, while he will not be able to cash it in until he retires from or leaves HSBC.

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HSBC's £13.7bn pre-tax profit, which comes despite the bank's record fine of $1.9bn (£1.2bn) to settle a US investigation into money-laundering, was below City forecasts of around $23.4 billion (£15.6bn).

The banking group makes an estimated 90% of its money outside Britain and has benefited from its exposure to emerging markets in Asia.

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HBSC reported underlying profit before tax of $16.4bn (£10.9bn), up 18% on 2011.

• The bank's reported profit was down 6% on the previous year

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HSBC today reported pre-tax profits of $20.6 bn (£13.7 bn) for 2012, a drop of 6% on a year earlier.

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