HSBC Cuts 20 Banking Jobs in New York

Pierre Goad, a London-based spokesman for HSBC's investment bank, confirmed there were dismissals. He wouldn't provide details on the number of job losses or the positions. The reductions affected a group of 130 in bonds in New York, Hong Kong and London. HSBC also cut at least seven jobs in its U.S. equities unit, another person said.

Stephen Green, promoted in May to be HSBC's chairman, is scaling back in the U.S. after overseeing an expansion of securities trading and investment banking in his three years as chief executive officer. The bank has said over the past year it intends to limit expense growth at the unit. On Dec. 5, it said the division's third-quarter earnings were hurt by lower trading revenue.

Trading ``was one of the areas of disappointment,'' said Euan Stirling, an Edinburgh-based fund manager at Standard Life Investments who helps manage about $158 billion and holds HSBC stock. ``The job losses aren't a drop in the ocean, but they aren't hugely significant either.''

The company ``made a small number of redundancies in New York,'' HSBC's Goad said. ``This isn't a change in strategy. This is a routine alignment of resources to reflect the changing markets in which we operate.''