HSBC Carries Out Largest Senior Executive Layoff Since Financial Crisis, Spending Nearly $70 Million on Severance Last Year
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HSBC cut 134 senior risk-role staff last year, paying $67.5 million in severance — its biggest executive-level layoff since 2008, signalling that the new CEO's restructuring is reaching deep into the bank's core business lines.
Who was cut — and why these people?
The 134 are "Material Risk Takers" — staff whose roles can materially affect the bank's risk profile — roughly 10% of that group.
They sit mainly in investment banking and trading. This means → HSBC is not trimming back-office fat; it is cutting high-pay, high-risk frontline roles.
The cull is part of CEO Georges Elhedery's broader restructuring, which also shut down HSBC's M&A advisory and equity-capital-markets businesses in the US, UK, and Europe.
How does HSBC compare with European peers?
Far ahead: Santander and Deutsche Bank cut 49 and 48 Material Risk Takers respectively; BNP Paribas cut 39, Barclays 32 — HSBC's 134 is nearly three times the next largest.
On per-person severance, Société Générale topped the list at €870,000 average; Santander paid the single highest individual package at €8.3 million.
In plain terms = HSBC leads on headcount, but it is not the most generous per departure.
Why does UBS deserve a separate look?
UBS paid the lowest total severance to Material Risk Takers, yet its firm-wide severance bill hit $942 million across more than 7,500 staff.
This means → UBS's spending is driven not by executive cuts but by winding down the former Credit Suisse integration — average severance was just $125,000, far below executive levels.
This reflects two fundamentally different layoff logics: HSBC is slimming by choice; UBS is digesting an acquisition legacy.
Is the cutting still going on?
Bloomberg reports that Vikram Lamba, a managing director in HSBC's leveraged and acquisition finance unit, left earlier this month after nearly nine years in Hong Kong.
HSBC declined to comment. Put simply = the personnel reshuffling is still under way, and the list is not yet closed.
The wave marks the largest cull of high-paying roles at major European banks since the 2020 pandemic; whether HSBC's restructuring delivers the promised cost savings and efficiency gains remains the market's key verification point.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.