HSBC cuts 1,100 jobs in investment banking

    
LONDON: Banking major HSBC has cut 1,100 jobs in its investment banking division due to turmoil in the financial markets, a media report said.
    
"HSBC slashed 1,100 jobs in its investment banking division as the financial group tightened its belt due to the slump in the financial markets," The Financial Times reported on Thursday.
   
Pointing out that the cut is equal to about 4 per cent of HSBC's total employee strength in its global banking and markets division, the report said the move comes as investment banks around the world are cutting staff and trimming costs in expectation of continued slowdown in the business.
    
"The cuts reflect HSBC's gloomy prognosis for the world's financial markets in 2009, although they also underscore the bank's ambitions to focus its investment banking operations on emerging markets in Asia and the Middle-East, where executives believe it has a competitive advantage and the greatest opportunity for future growth," Financial Times said.
    
About 500 of the employees, including both front and back office staff and permanent and temporary workers, were based in London, with the majority of the remainder in Europe and the US, the newspaper said in a article published in its online edition.
    
According to the report, in the past two years, HSBC has realigned its investment banking operations to concentrate on providing financing and other risk management services to companies.
    
"The strategy followed an abortive attempt by HSBC to build a bulge-bracket investment bank by hiring hundreds of M&A bankers and beefing up its operations on Wall Street," the report added.