Friday, May 13, 2011

HSBC plans to hire over 1,000 staff over 5 yrs in Singapore

SINGAPORE: HSBC plans to hire more than 1,000 staff in Singapore over the next five years to help it double its profit before tax from the city-state, the bank's Singapore CEO said in remarks published on Friday, May 13.

Alex Hungate, HSBC Singapore CEO, was quoted by the Business Times newspaper as saying he wants the Singapore unit to earn a pre-tax profit of $1 billion in five years, doubling from $524 million in 2010.

"Singapore has an important role to play in the group's strategy going forward," said Hungate in an interview.

"We have three things to focus in Singapore - trade, financial markets and wealth management."

HSBC, Europe's largest bank, has targeted India, Singapore and Malaysia/Indonesia to each deliver over $1 billion in profit before tax in the medium term, joining Hong Kong and mainland China as 'billion-dollar' businesses, the paper said.

Currently HSBC has 3,500 staff in Singapore.

The hiring plan comes after the bank's CEO Stuart Gulliver announced on Wednesday that the bank is to cut back in retail banking and may sell its U.S. credit card arm in a bid to cut $3.5 billion in costs and revive flagging profits.

Europe's biggest bank faces an urgent need for action as more than two-fifths of its businesses are not delivering their cost of capital, Gulliver said. - Reuters

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