HSBC’s CEO is reportedly contemplating cutting 20,000 jobs in the coming years. The reductions are expected to affect middle and back-office roles, with CEO Georges Elhedery looking to leverage AI for cost-saving efforts. Some of the job cuts may also result from business divestitures or exits, as per reports from Bloomberg.
This move would impact approximately 10% of HSBC’s total workforce of 210,000 and could unfold over the next three to five years. However, discussions are reportedly in the early stages, and no final decisions have been reached yet.
The discussions reportedly began before the recent conflicts in Iran. HSBC declined to provide a comment when contacted. Elhedery, who assumed the CEO position in 2024, has already overseen the reduction of thousands of roles at the bank.
In a recent development, HSBC announced that it had achieved £890 million in cost savings in 2025 after streamlining its senior management team. The bank had initially aimed for £1.1 billion in annual cost reductions by the end of 2026 but is now on track to reach this target by the end of June, six months ahead of schedule.
Elhedery highlighted that significant savings were achieved through job deduplication, particularly in senior positions, resulting in a 15% reduction in managing director roles. Additionally, HSBC disclosed that it distributed bonuses totaling £2.9 billion to eligible staff in 2025, representing a 10% increase from the previous year.
The bank ensured that its top performers received the most significant variable pay rewards compared to the previous year. Elhedery’s total compensation for 2025 amounted to £6.6 million, including salary, benefits, an annual bonus, and a long-term incentive award of around £4.8 million.
The HSBC pay committee plans to grant the CEO a maximum long-term incentive award of £9 million for the period 2026-2028, subject to the bank’s performance over the next three years. The award will be disbursed in installments. HSBC reported a slight decrease in pre-tax profit for 2025, down about 7% year-on-year to £22.1 billion, factoring in losses linked to its investment in the Chinese Bank of Communications and restructuring expenses from its simplification program.