HSBC’s return-to-office plans risk boss’ cost-cutting ambitions
HSBC’s cost-cutting agenda is set to face a major disruption as the lender faces a shortfall of desks in its office move.
The banking juggernaut has been reported to be mulling a return-to-office mandate that would force employees back into the office for at least three days a week.
This comes as the bank is amid a move London-headquarter move to the City, from Canary Wharf, which will significantly downsize its office space.
But the endeavour could be set to throw a spanner in the works for chief executive Georges Elhedery’s plans to slash costs.
Elhedery will be faced with whether to buy more desk space for staff in London, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Guangzhou in purchases that could top $200m a year, sources told Bloomberg.
This would drastically derail Elhedery’s plans to save $1.5bn in annual costs by the end of 2026.
HSBC exploring cost-cutting strategies
The banking chief has spent the least near-12 months since taking the helm at the lender deploying strategies to reduce expenses.
This has included stripping back operations into “eastern markets” covering the Asia-pacific and the Middle East and “western” with the Americas and Europe.
The firm is also eying using AI bots to streamline operations in its back office and reduce its cost base, as reported by Financial News.
In the UK the FTSE 100 bank employs around 34,700 people across sectors including retail, private, commercial and investment banking.
HSBC recorded over 211,000 full-time staff on the books at the end of last year and remains the dissenter among its peers who have already pushed for employees to return to the office.
Lloyds called staff back into the office for two days a week in September 2023 and earlier this year Barclays introduced a minimum attendance requirement of three days a week.
But this approach pales in comparison to the bank’s Wall Street counterparts, which have adopted a more hardline approach.
Both JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs have mandated five-days working in office.
HSBC declined to comment.