HSBC may move fewer than 1,000 jobs to Paris following Britain's exit from the European Union, the bank's finance director Iain Mackay said on Monday.
“It may be less than 1,000 employees, but it’s up to 1,000,” Mackay told reporters on a conference call.
Previous comments from senior HSBC executives had emphasised the number of jobs to move would be 1,000.
Mackay said the bank had booked $12 million in costs for the third quarter in relation to Brexit, mostly spent on legal advice regarding contingency planning. The bank still expects to spend $200-$300 million in total on Brexit relocation costs, he said.
On Monday HSBC reported a near five-fold rise in third-quarter profits, as the banking giant pushed forward with its cost-cutting programme and benefited from its pivot to Asia. The lender said pre-tax profits rose to $4.6 billion in the three months to September 30th, marking a 448 per cent jump compared to $843 million during the same period last year. Reported revenue for the quarter came in at $12.98 billion, marking a slight slowdown from $13.17 billion in the previous quarter, but a 36 per cent rise from $9.51 billion a year earlier.
HSBC said it experienced growth across three of its main businesses, with revenue increasing across its retail banking and wealth management operations, commercial banking, as well as its global banking and markets division.
Chief executive Stuart Gulliver cheered the lender’s results, saying it “maintained good momentum in the third quarter”, and was making “good progress” with the strategic overhaul it launched back in 2015. Mr Gulliver has overseen stringent job cuts and asset sales as part of efforts to boost profits, and on Monday assured investors that it was on track to deliver around $6 billion in cost savings by the end of the year.
HSBC said it has already saved around $5.2 billion during the financial year, having achieved $600 million in cost savings in the third quarter. The bank has also reaped the benefits of a greater focus on Asia.
- Reuters
