35,000 Employees to Lose Jobs: Popular Banking Firm to Speed up Process! 

Amid the deadly COVID-19 crisis, UK's largest Bank- HSBC is all set to accelerate plans to cut 35,000 jobs globally. The pandemic has forced the bank to put aside another $3.8bn (£2.9bn) to cover the company's debts.

HSBC, who have their headquarters in London announced that pre-tax profits plunged more than 80 percent to $1.1bn in the second quarter, down from $6.2bn during the same period last year. The company further stated that this is far worse than the $2.5bn that analysts had expected. 

As per The Guardian report, HSBC, who makes most of its profits in China and Hong Kong, reported a $3.8bn loan loss charge, which is almost seven times the $555m it put aside for bad debts last year, and higher than the $2.7bn predicted by analysts.

As the crisis is at its peak, about $1.5bn of the expected credit losses were linked to its UK business, which signals fears that Britain may be particularly affected by the pandemic.

HSBC, which had already taken a $3bn charge in the first quarter, expected loan loss charges linked to the coronavirus crisis to reach $8bn-$13bn by the end of 2020, the Guardian further reported. 

Meanwhile, the report also estimated the deterioration of the economic outlook and its poor performance in the second quarter. Currently, HSBC is making headlines because of its support for China’s controversial security laws in Hong Kong.

The bank has also been attacked by Beijing over its alleged role in the arrest of a Huawei executive, BBC reports. 

“Current tensions between China and the US inevitably create challenging situations for an organisation with HSBC’s footprint. We will face any political challenges that arise with a focus on the long-term needs of our customers and the best interests of our investors," the HSBC chief executive, Noel Quinn, said. He further denied that HSBC had increased scrutiny of the accounts held by pro-democracy activists as a result.

Further giving an insight over job cuts, he said the lender would ramp up cost-cutting plans announced in February, which were originally estimated to involve 35,000 job cuts across its global business. 

“Having paused parts of our transformation programme in response to the Covid-19 outbreak, we now intend to accelerate implementation of the plans we announced in February,” Quinn said.

Even travel restrictions and a rise in work from home meant the bank would be able to cut more costs than planned, BBC also states.