HSBC today told its UK staff that 1,700 jobs are to be cut across the country, with the axe expected to fall most heavily on back-office and staff who manage its branch network.

Today's cuts come after plans by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to shed 3,700 staff in addition to the 16,000 job cuts that the state-owned bank had already announced.

A fortnight ago, HSBC said that it was shifting its chief executive, Michael Geoghegan, and his office to Hong Kong as part of a move to focus its growth in the Far East. It is keen to bring down the costs of its 1,400-site UK branch network.

The job losses to take effect over the next 12 months bring the total announced at HSBC in the UK since December to 3,400.

The latest cuts come as it cuts the number of regions which manage branch networks from 13 to around 8 and removes a tier of middle management in these offices, amounting to 300 roles. Another 300 roles will go from sites that service customer credit and debit card and 470 jobs at its debt collection offices. A further 200 jobs at its HSBC Direct offices servicing online and telephone banking will go.

HSBC announced the cuts as RBS and Lloyds detailed proposals to sell assets in return for an additional £40 billion of state aid on top of the £37 billion already received from taxpayers.

HSBC has not taken bailout funds from the Government, though it raised £12 billion from shareholders earlier this year in what was then the country's biggest fundraising until today, when Lloyds confirmed that it would a launch a £13.5 billion rights issue as part of a £21 billion deal with the Government.

Although HSBC declined to give details of the location of job cuts, the union Unite said that the cuts would be centred on HSBC sites in Southampton, Southend, Leicester and Sheffield.

Rob MacGregor, the Unite national officer, described the move as a “fundamental mistake”.

“The union does not believe this will do anything to improve the company’s future performance,” he said. “HSBC should think again before cutting its skilled and dedicated workers.”

Mr MacGregor said that many of the staff affected earned as little as £14,000 a year.

HSBC UK Chief Executive Paul Thurston said: “Decisions that affect our people are always difficult, but this restructure is an essential part of the streamlining of our business and the migration of activities into centres of excellence around the country.

“We will do everything we can to support those of our people who are directly affected and to minimise the number of redundancies."

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