HSBC to Cut 40% of Office Space

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23 February 2021

CEO Noel Quinn has announced in a full-year result presentation that the bank will free up its office footprint by forty per cent.

Quinn however confirmed that HSBC would not end their lease on its 45-floor office in London’s Canary Wharf, so the bank will still maintain a city presence.

In the firm’s 2020 annual result media release, Quinn noted that HSBC “learned that our people could be just as productive working from home as in the office”  and that they plan to “build solutions to free up office footprint, supported by a shift to a more agile way of working and more efficiencies through reduced headcount.” 

Investment in Technology

The finance group delivered $8.8 billion of reported profit before tax, down 34 per cent on 2019, and $12.1 billion in adjusted profits, down 45 per cent.

HSBC confirmed that they intend to partner with big technology firms and fintechs for innovation support, to use straight-through processing for payments. They also to build platforms for higher front-end productivity, including arming their front-line staff with data analytics and visualisation for key insights. Processes will be automated in their middle and back office by, for example, integrating machine-learning to improve analytics capabilities.

Quinn noted:

“We have had a good start to 2021, and I am cautiously optimistic for the year ahead. While a spike in COVID-19 infection rates led to renewed lockdown measures in many places at the start of 2021, the development of multiple vaccines gives us hope that the world will return to some form of normality before long. Nonetheless, we remain reactive to the ebb and flow of the COVID-19 virus and prepared to take further steps to manage the economic impact where necessary.”

Picture: a photograph of HSBC's Canary Wharf HQ

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 23 February 2021

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