HSBC Plans to Create Jobs ... in Canada

The global banking giant HSBC made headlines when it announced plans to cut 30,000 jobs.

That includes 5,000 already in the works following the bank's restructuring in the U.S., Latin America, the United Kingdom, France and the Middle East with another 25,000 layoffs planned by 2013.

What may be less obvious is that HSBC is hoping to create some new roles in North America, primarily Canada, with an emphasis on both retail and business banking, according to a statement by Fabrice de Dongo, Senior Director, Public Affairs, HSBC Bank Canada. De Dongo was quoted recently by Global-Investment-Institute.com explaining that Canada is "a growing market for us."

De Dongo admitted that some positions will be eliminated, but that they "plan to create others."

In a follow-up interview with eFinancialCareers, Sharon Wilks, HSBC Bank Canada's assistant vice president for public affairs, confirmed that the company remains very interested in growing its loan, trading, cash management services to businesses in Canada.

Wealth management is also an area targeted for growth, Wilks said, although she clarified that HSBC has made no comment or announcements about the future of its global banking unit in the region.

That meshes with de Dongo's comments. "Business will follow their normal course with respect to our retail banking," he said, adding that "The growth of our business services is an important issue for us, especially in central Canada," and that growth forecasts for HSBC in Canada have not changed since company CEO Stuart Gulliver made a Canadian visit in July."

Link to emerging markets

At the time, Gulliver made clear that he by no means plans to shrink or divest of HSBC's Canadian business. "Canada is double leverage to the emerging markets," Gulliver said during an interview in Toronto about a month ago. "It both supplies the emerging markets with commodities, but also the emerging market supplies Canada with its immigrant population. ... In many ways you can almost bracket Canada with emerging markets in the analysis that we do as a bank. "So, to be crystal clear, it's not for sale," Canada's Globe and Mail quoted Gulliver saying.

In Asia, in fact, HSBC is now planning to hire thousands of people in emerging markets over the next three years.

The British-based banking concern said it looked particularly to Asia's booming financial sector to power future growth. hoping to boost its position as a leading issuer in offshore bonds denominated in China's currency <bYahoo Finance Canada reports.

Gulliver told a press briefing in Hong Kong that "We are planning to hire up to 15,000 people in emerging markets over the next three years."