HSBC freezes salaries and hiring

Euronews - HSBC has told its staff that it there will be no pay rises and no new employees hired this year.

It is part of plans to make annual cost savings of up to $5 billion (4.6 billion euros) by 2017.

The bank – which is Europe’s largest – said last June that it was going to cut its workforce by almost 20 percent and shrink its investment bank by a third to boost profits.

The pay and hiring freeze comes just days after HSBC’s board met to consider whether to move its head office from London to Hong Kong and where it would focus its efforts.

Reportedly a decision on the headquarters location could come early next week.

At the same time the French news agency AFP reported that a Paris court has given the go-ahead for a tax fraud investigation against HSBC involving French citizens using its Swiss subsidiary.