Could this be the end for HSBC in Canary Wharf? (Picture: EPA)

Banking giant HSBC has confirmed plans to axe up to 25,000 jobs worldwide including as many as 8,000 in the UK and revealed it is to rebrand its British high street operations.

The bank said the job losses are part of a overall cull which will reduce its total full-time workforce by around 10% to slash costs and overhaul the business, while it will also shrink its employee base by another 25,000 amid plans to sell off operations in Turkey and Brazil.

HSBC – which employs around 48,000 of its 258,000 staff in the UK – added that its UK retail bank which is being relocated from London to Birmingham by 2019 amid regulatory ‘ringfencing’ rules, will operate under a new brand name that is yet to be decided on.



The group also delivered a blow to customers by announcing aims to trim its worldwide network of branches by 12%, with the UK being one of seven regions to be impacted.


It declined to give further details for UK branch closures.

The bank is reportedly looking at getting rid of 25,000 jobs internationally (Picture: PA)

Speculation is mounting that plans to rename HSBC’s retail arm will see a return of the Midland brand to the high street, as its UK branches used to be known as Midland Bank before they were swallowed up by HSBC in 1992.

HSBC has 1,057 branches across the UK.

The swingeing job cuts comes as the bank seeks to deliver annual cost savings of around 4.5 billion US dollars (£2.9 billion) to five billion US dollars (£3.3 billion) by the end of 2017.

The group also announced aims to sell its businesses in Turkey and Brazil, because they do not have the scale needed to compete with rivals.

The bank is considering moving its headquarters to Birmingham (Picture: EPA)

In its keenly-awaited strategy update, HSBC added it would make a decision about where to base its headquarters by the end of the year, after announcing recently that it was considering a move away from the UK due to regulatory and structural reforms.

If given the go ahead, it would likely take the bank two years to move its headquarters.

HSBC said it was undertaking a ‘significant’ reshaping of the business.

Chief executive Stuart Gulliver said: ‘We recognise that the world has changed and we need to change with it.’