Decline on deals leads HSBC to fire 12 investment bankers in Asia

HSBC Holdings has initiated a series of job cuts at its Asia investment bank due to a decline in dealmaking in the region, resulting in around a dozen bankers being laid off.

People familiar with the subject said that HSBC Holdings has initiated a fresh wave of job layoffs at its Asia investment bank in response to a downturn in dealmaking in the region. On Tuesday, April 16, the London-based lender let go of about a dozen bankers in its investment banking division in Asia, according to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing a private subject.

As stock sales and mergers declined, HSBC joined other international competitors like UBS Group, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs Group, which have previously implemented many rounds of job layoffs in Asia over the last 18 months. Deal flow is particularly slow in China and Hong Kong, HSBC's main markets, as the second-largest economy in the world has had difficulty recovering from the pandemic.

The number of employees at the bank varies from year to year, according to a spokesman stationed in Hong Kong, but overall, the investment banking section of the bank had excellent results over a very difficult few years. Hong Kong has seen a decline in initial public offerings (IPOs), with profits falling to their lowest level in over 20 years last year. The first quarter saw a further 29% decline in IPO proceeds, totaling roughly US$605 million — the lowest amount raised in three months since the global financial crisis.