A slump in the flow of deals has been pushing investment banks to reduce the workforce. Joining a long list of global bank and financial services firms to cut jobs is HSBC Holdings. As per Reuters, HSBC is expected to cut 20 more investment banking jobs in Asia. With this, the total cuts reaches 30 this week.
The Asia-centric lender started the job cuts in the region on Tuesday, when it notified around a dozen bankers.
Global rivals including UBS Group AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. have all had to make job cuts in their Asia offices over the past 18 months as stock sales and mergers tumble.
Morgan Stanley too had announced slashing of 50 investment banking jobs in the Asia-Pacific region, specifically in China and Hong Kong. The stock market and economic downturn in China impacted dealmaking activity in the country which lead to trimming several key banking jobs in China last year.
Over the past one year, the Initial Public Offering in Hong Kong have decreased, with proceeds dropping to the lowest in more than two decades last year. The money raised from IPOs fell another 29% in the first quarter to about US $605million, the worst three-month period since the global financial crisis.
Also watch: Morgan Stanley to slash about 50 investment banking jobs in Asia-Pacific: Report