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Behind Expected Cuts at HSBC, Plans to Bolster Compliance Efforts

By Irene Madongo

The axe may be falling on up to 50,000 positions at HSBC Holdings Plc but at least one department seems sheltered from the cost-cutting measures: the bank's compliance team. The London-based bank disclosed Tuesday that it would exit Turkey and Brazil, in part because its operations there "do not fulfill" its risk and transparency requirements. The cuts, which are intended to save the institution up to $5 billion by 2017, follow four years of hiring some 4,000 staffers within its compliance team, which reached 7,200 employees earlier this year. Overall, the bank will reduce its fulltime staff by 10 percent...

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