In the past week alone, reports have surfaced that Morgan Stanley will cut 1,600 employees; Goldman Sachs could lay off 400; and Citi could reduce its headcount by 50 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Add to that the 2,700 Credit Suisse employees who may find themselves looking for work this quarter.
Enter HSBC. The British financial giant appears to be courting bankers who are currently working at rivals that are setting up to trim their ranks.
“Whether you were personally affected, or have colleagues that lost their jobs, layoffs are stressful and can be overwhelming,” the bank’s recruitment team wrote in an email to rival firms’ bankers, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. “We want to make it easy for you to find your next role.”
Europe- and Asia-based Credit Suisse employees who are leaving that bank are reportedly among the targets of HSBC’s brash recruitment effort, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
Strategically, that makes sense. HSBC has doubled down on Asia in particular, from where it derives two-thirds of its profits. A heavier focus on that continent is key to the bank’s ongoing three-year effort to cut 35,000 jobs and $100 billion in assets.
HSBC last month agreed to sell its Canada footprint to Royal Bank of Canada in a $10 billion deal that just may ease pressure Chinese insurance giant Ping An — HSBC’s largest shareholder — has put on the bank to split its Western and Asian operations.
An HSBC spokesperson declined to comment to Bloomberg regarding the recruitment effort. A Credit Suisse spokesperson did not immediately respond to the wire service’s calls for comment.
