HSBC axes 450 Hong Kong staff

Hong Kong, Nov 18 (DPA) Banking giant HSBC axed 450 jobs in Hong Kong Monday because of the impact of the global financial crisis, a government-run radio station reported.

The bank blamed the cuts among the 20,000-strong Hong Kong workforce on the deteriorating global economy and a pessimistic outlook for 2009, according to Radio Television Hong Kong.

Both front and back office staff have been affected by the job cuts, the radio station said.

The job cuts come weeks after HSBC, which employs 300,000 people worldwide, said it would axe 1,100 jobs because of the worsening financial crisis. It refused at the time to say where jobs would be lost.

Around 4,000 Hong Kong construction workers also lost their jobs last week when work was halted on several major hotel and casino projects in neighbouring Macau.

Hong Kong has been hard hit by the recent global economic slump with sharp falls in property prices and a 30 percent drop in the blue-chip Hang Seng Index since September.