HSBC pays US$67.5m severance for 134 senior banker layoffs in 2025
HSBC paid US$67.5 million in severance in 2025 to lay off 134 top risk-taking bankers, the largest such senior cut in a single year since the 2008 financial crisis. The figure represented about 10% of the bank’s total headcount. The layoffs followed CEO Georges Elhedery’s push to restructure investment banking, including closing M&A and equity capital markets advisory operations in the US, UK and Europe.