HONG KONG (Yonhap) -- HSBC Holdings Plc may sell its Korean retail business as part of a global restructuring plan, financial sources here said Sunday.
In August, the British banking giant said it would cut 30,000 jobs worldwide by 2013 -- about 10 percent of its work force. It announced last month it will lay off 3,000 of 23,000 employees in Hong Kong, the hub for the bank's Asia-Pacific business.
"HSBC is likely to sell its branches in Seoul to other banks, rather than shut them down," said an official at the bank, requesting not to be named, as he was not authorized to comment on the issue.
"However, there have been some skeptical views within the company about the sales. It will be not easy to find a buyer since HSBC's retail business in South Korea is relatively small."
HSBC has 11 branches in South Korea, seven of which are located in the capital city of Seoul. About 830 people work for HSBC's South Korean retail operations.
Stuart Gulliver, HSBC's group chief executive, earlier said the bank aims at saving annual costs by $3.5 billion. The bank has 296,000 employees worldwide.
HSBC joined other large financial institutions that announced layoffs earlier in the summer, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., and Bank of America Corp. (Yonhap)