HSBC bankers were expecting to learn about their bonuses this week. On the day, a whole bunch got axed and of those, the sacked VPs and above will not get bonuses.
As the title suggests, what the hell’s going on?
I feel for you guys:/ surely there’s bound to be some backlash, right? Feel free to let loose and bash the bank - no big deal getting doxxed now I guess.
Good luck out there!
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That is absolutely wild, Idk what I would even do in this situation. The bonus (while not guaranteed) is thought of as a vested payment for the work performed by the employee through the year
It’s not guaranteed, but it surely is an unspoken rule to expect and receive something for the sweatshop hours these guys work. Wretched move HSBC’s pulled
Most banks give you some sort of kiss on the way out, in some cases a prorated/reduced bonus if not for cause in addition to severance. They want to keep a good reputation out there as word does travel and is a small price to pay. It a bank gives nothing, it’s a sign they’re not planning to return to market anytime soon.
Writing was on the wall for a while, and people were probably coasting. HSBC is not a serious bank in many geographies.
Layoff on bonus day is insane, even in this industry. How more cut throat can this industry get???
Bunch of fucks....
Have you heard anything from colleagues/friends? I’d think they’d be organising a riot haha
Know few friends there. Morale is obviously as low as it gets. Place in shambles as even if some people have been held on payroll for a few months their mind is towards the next role rather than on the live deals.
People not showing up to the office and doing the bare bare minimum (rightly so)
Ridiculous how they still have their live deals.
I’d imagine it would far more lucrative to sell their IB business rather than push everyone out, tarnish their name and have to pay severance too - highly doubt not paying bonuses covers what they’ll inevitably lose soon.
I wonder who will pick up the most HSBC bankers
I mean it's fairly obvious what's going on - not really a secret since HSBC has publicly said they're retrenching from a lot of ex-Asia IB activities with pretty much immediate effect.
Most people at HSBC were or should've been aware that this was likely (what bank has ever given bonuses to those it fired lmao).
Not saying this is ideal - labour market is about to become extremely tough - but this is not a surprise if you've even glanced at the news the past month https://www.ft.com/content/2659ddf4-cf9e-453d-b994-da4e10854a6e
I think the biggest problem was the execution - the way the whole thing was handled.
No one expects banks/institutions to care for employees, but no need to kick a man when he’s down either.
Layoff on bonus day is indeed pretty fucked but it's not that uncommon for it to happen a few days before at other banks either as part of regular trimming.
I just hope the redundancy payment is good.
Maybe HSBC was very unhappy with its bankers in the amount of capex they sucked up with low ROE. So while this is a trash move maybe it’s HSBC leadership’s way of punishing bankers that did nothing for years?
punishing all juniors that had absolutely no role in sourcing deals, smart
the ones who got fired were VP+ if I recall correctly
Did they fire people in NY just now? They just did a layoff in like February, is this another round? Or was this in the UK?
The most recent news was about Lon and HK, not sure about US.
Link below
Economic Times https://m.economictimes.com/news/international/world-news/hsbc-lays-off…
any update on what's going on with the US teams?
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