PARIS, May 14 (Reuters) - HSBC plans to cut 348 jobs in France through a voluntary redundancy scheme, amounting to about 10% of its workforce in the country, the bank said on Wednesday.
The job losses are part of a cost-cutting drive led by CEO Georges Elhedery, who aims to reduce expenses by $1.8 billion by the end of 2026.
HSBC has already sold its retail and insurance divisions in France as part of a retreat from slow-growing European and North American markets where the bank has struggled against larger domestic players.
"These developments in France reflect the acceleration of the implementation of HSBC's strategy aimed at simplifying the organisation to make it more agile ... adapting to an uncertain economic environment, growing competition and high internal costs," HSBC said.
Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain Editing by GV De Clercq and David Goodman
Source: Reuters