- HSBC Holdings (HSBC +4.2%) plans to reduce its office footprint by 20% and halve its previous travel costs as the pandemic pushed companies to rethink their work set-ups.
- The bank expects to get halfway to its long-term goal for a 40% cut in office space by the end of this year, HSBC Chief Financial Officer Ewen Stevenson said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
- In addition to making fewer commutes to the office, Stevenson expects that banker will cut back on business trips, by using video technology instead in many cases.
- “We’ve basically baked in about half the costs of travel going forward by using lot more video technology and having people go on fewer, longer trips when they do travel," he said.
- HSBC, though, will keep its headquarters in London, CEO Noel Quinn said in a call on Tuesday.
- Other banks, though, are urging employees to return to the office. JPMorgan Chase (JPM +0.2%) told its workers that its offices will be open to all employees as of May 17, subject to a 50% building capacity limit, Bloomberg reported, citing a memo sent to staff.
- The bank said it "would fully expect that by early July, all U.S.-based employees will be in the office on a consistent rotational schedule.”
- Goldman Sachs (GS +0.4%) Chief David Solomon has called work-from-home arrangements an "aberration" that needs to be corrected quickly.
- Citigroup (C +0.5%) will start asking more workers to return to the office in July and Wells Fargo (WFC +1.3%) aims for a "more normal operating model" in September.