HSBC’s CEO is reportedly contemplating cutting 20,000 jobs in the coming years, mainly in the middle and back offices, as part of a cost-saving strategy leveraging AI technology. These potential layoffs would affect about 10% of the bank’s 210,000 workforce and could be executed over the next three to five years. However, discussions are still preliminary, and no final decisions have been reached.
This restructuring initiative, which may involve business sales or exits, began prior to recent geopolitical events. Since taking the helm in 2024, CEO Georges Elhedery has already overseen the reduction of thousands of roles within the bank. In 2025, HSBC reported a cost reduction of £890 million after streamlining its senior management team.
The bank had previously aimed to cut £1.1 billion in annual costs by the end of 2026 but is now on track to achieve this goal by June, six months ahead of schedule. Elhedery attributed a significant portion of the savings to job deduplication, particularly in senior positions, resulting in a 15% reduction in managing director roles. HSBC also distributed bonuses totaling £2.9 billion to eligible staff in 2025, a 10% increase from the previous year.
Elhedery himself received a total package of £6.6 million in 2025, including salary, benefits, an annual bonus, and a long-term incentive award of approximately £4.8 million. The bank’s pay committee plans to offer Elhedery a long-term incentive award of up to 600% of his salary, totaling £9 million for the period 2026-2028, subject to the bank’s performance and delivered in installments.
Despite lower earnings in 2025, with pre-tax profit decreasing by about 7% year-on-year to £22.1 billion, HSBC attributed this decline to losses related to its stake in the Chinese Bank of Communications and restructuring costs from its simplification program.
