HSBC bank to axe 500 jobs

The UK's biggest bank is cutting about 1,100 posts across its global banking and markets division - 4% of the operation's total workforce - as it comes under pressure amid the credit crisis.

UK staff affected are largely based in HSBC's Canary Wharf office in London, where the division is headquartered.

The news follows Thursday's announcement from mortgage bank Bradford & Bingley that it was axing 370 jobs to save money.

There are also fears over thousands of UK jobs at collapsed investment bank Lehman Brothers, despite the sale of the bulk of its European operations to Japanese bank Nomura.

HSBC said it was making the cuts as a result of the tough market conditions and its cautious outlook for 2009.

The group's investment banking division was hit by 3.9 billion US dollars (£2bn) in write-downs from mortgage-backed investments affected by the credit crunch in the first six months of the year alone.

Its first-half pre-tax profits plunged by 28% to 10.25 billion dollars (£5.6bn).

But the bank's broad geographic spread - including a heavy focus on the fast growing emerging markets in Asia - have helped it weather the storm better than many of its rivals.

It remained profitable in all regions except North America in the first half of the year.