HSBC Holdings Plc said it has exited or downsized its presence in 77 buildings since January last year, a sign of the growing impact on the office market as more and more companies transition to new ways of working.
The London-headquartered bank has reduced its global office footprint by about 10% and is on track to cut it by about a fifth by the end of this year, according to an analyst presentation Monday after the bank reported second-quarter results.
“We are moving to a hybrid working model wherever possible,” Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn said in an earnings statement Monday. “We will need less office space as a result, and we have plans to reduce our global office footprint by more than 3.6 million square feet.”
Last year’s abrupt shift to remote working has sparked a debate across industries about the need for office space, prompting a number of global banks and other large firms to rethink how employees operate.
The pandemic is also cutting costs elsewhere. HSBC expects to halve its outlay on business travel, reducing its spending to around US$200 million a year from 2022 onwards, chief financial officer Ewen Stevenson said in a call Monday with analysts.
