HSBC Holdings Plc is looking to axe hundreds of investment banking jobs as the lender aims to cut overall costs for business. 

As reported, the CEO rebuked his most senior managers in March for missing cost targets and lately has been putting pressures on top managers to cut costs. About 400 executives have attended the global conference where Flint called out leadership for “incompetence” and discussed their inability to keep a rein on expenses. 

What caused such outbreak was probably because the bank gets most of its business in Asia and was hit by the meltdown in financial markets, which pushed investment bank revenues lower in the fourth quarter and put further pressure on Flint. 

The pressure-driven from the CEO is now about to impact the job and while the numbers haven’t been formally announced yet, speculation is that about 500 jobs could go within global banking and markets. 

These job reductions are only one part of the story. HSBC is planning job reductions across the firm and marking the latest stage of HSBC’s “Project Oak” revamp. After a disappointing fourth-quarter, Flint has been keeping a close eye on the expenses. 

Project oak is a deliberate strategy to encourage aggressive reductions as Flint has made ‘positive jaws’, a banking jargon for keeping the top line growing faster than expenses. 

Interestingly, while HSBC is cutting jobs in some areas, it is also expanding simultaneously in private banking in Asia and plans to add 700 jobs in the region by 2022. 

Image Credits: HSBC