BANKING giant HSBC announced today that it has resurrected its plan to cut around 35,000 jobs worldwide after putting the redundancy programme on hold amid the coronavirus crisis.

In an internal memo to staff, the bank’s chief executive Noel Quinn said that cuts first announced in February were “even more necessary today” as the group faced “challenging times ahead.”

He said the group would also freeze the “vast majority” of external recruitment and look to redeploy affected staff where possible.

The Unite union slammed HSBC for resuming job cuts during the crisis and said it had a duty to “stand by its team now more than ever.”

National officer Dominic Hook said: “The question that must be asked today is ‘Why now, HSBC?’

“At present vast numbers of HSBC staff are making massive sacrifices working from home or taking risks travelling into offices and bank branches to help customers, why now?

“HSBC in the UK is a profitable and successful organisation, in no small part because of its dedicated and highly skilled workforce,” Mr Hook said, and the bank must recognise those ongoing efforts.

“Since the start of the Covid-19 crisis colleagues across HSBC have worked tirelessly as key workers to ensure that consumers continue to access financial services to meet their banking needs.

“Unite will continue to oppose any compulsory job losses within HSBC and work vigorously to ensure staff are heard and their jobs protected,” he said.

A number of banks have paused redundancy programmes during the crisis, but there were fears that the HSBC decision could see others follow suit.