HSBC 'To Announce At Least 10,000 Job Cuts'

HSBC is to announce on Monday it will cut at least 10,000 jobs in the next year, according to Sky News sources.

Sky's City editor Mark Kleinman said it is expected "the vast majority of these 10,000 job cuts will be outside the UK".

The bank employs more than 300,000 people worldwide and the cutbacks would be part of a strategic overhaul by the bank's new chief executive Stuart Gulliver.

HSBC will also be announcing its half-year results on Monday.

The banking giant is expected to reveal disappointing figures for the six months to June 30, 2011.

Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland are all also expected to reveal a drop in profits in their interim updates over the next week.

HSBC is anticipated to report pre-tax profits of \$10.9bn (£6.7bn) for the period, down from \$11.1bn (£7bn).

The payment protection insurance mis-selling scandal, planned ring-fencing of retail banking operations - as proposed by the Independent Commission on Banking - and a volatile global economic climate have all affected the accounts of the four lenders.

Taxpayer-backed Lloyds and RBS have seen their shares plunge 30% and 17% respectively in the past six months alone.

Barclays' shares have plummeted 26% and HSBC has lost 14%.

Barclays, which reports on Tuesday, is expected to reveal a 24% drop in reported profits to £1.8bn, according to broker Seymour Pierce.

Lloyds Banking Group is expected to report pre-tax profits of £1bn on Thursday, a steep reduction on the £1.6bn reported a year earlier.

RBS closes the week with its results on Friday, which are expected to reveal £611m in reported profits, down 19% on the previous year, Seymour Pierce said.

An HSBC spokesman said the group was declining to comment on the reports of jobs losses.