HSBC to slash investment bank, lowers return targets

HSBC (HSBA.L) will take an axe to its investment bank and seek to cut up to $5 billion in costs in an effort to improve its sluggish performance, Europe's biggest bank said on Tuesday. The announcement to the Hong Kong stock exchange came ahead of a presentation to investors and analysts when Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver will give more detail on his second major strategic plan since he took the helm at the start of 2011. The new strategy, which involves shrinking the global banking and markets division to less than one third of HSBC's $2.6 billion balance sheet from its current level of around 40 percent, marks a significant but expected shift for the lender.

HSBC to slash investment bank, lowers return targets source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hsbc-slash-investment-bank-lowers-045157203.html