HSBC is to cut more than 100 jobs in its Isle of Man operation and about 52 in Guernsey, the London-based bank has confirmed.
The cuts will take place mainly in the bank’s securities services (HSS) unit and largely involve people working in alternative fund administration, as HSBC consolidates these operations in Luxembourg and Dublin, a bank spokeswoman said.
The HSS operations in the Isle of Man will be discontinued, as will non-client-facing roles in the unit’s Guernsey office.
Another 16 jobs are "potentially at risk" in the bank’s asset management division in Jersey, the HSBC spokeswoman added. Two asset management jobs are also said to be at risk in the UK.
Staff in the affected operations were informed of the cuts this morning.
Although the job cuts on the IoM and Guernsey represent only a "small reduction", or about 3%, of the global staff of HSBC’s securities services unit, according to the bank, they will affect about one in three of its approximately 300 Isle of Man employees. It is understood that some may find work elsewhere within the bank’s operations.
Global review
The decision to cut the IoM jobs was part of a global review of operations by HSBC, and “not reflective of our ongoing confidence in the jurisdiction as a place to do business”, the bank spokeswoman said, noting that HSBC will retain its retail, commercial and private banking businesses on the island.
“Our banking operation in particular continues to perform well in the Isle of Man," she added.
Last week HSBC, the UK’s largest bank, disclosed that it was considering reducing the size of its UK payroll by as many as 1,200 jobs.
Royal Bank of Scotland International announced in March that it planned to trim 90 jobs from its offshore operation, which has offices in the Isle of Man as well as Jersey, Guernsey and Gibraltar.
Today’s news of cuts in HSBC’s offshore operations came as the bank’s executives were sighing with relief after investors finished snapping up its £12.5bn rights issue, the UK’s biggest ever. The appetite for the new HSBC shares was seen as a reflection of the bank’s perceived strength relative to that of some of its rivals.
