The global job cuts at the London-headquartered bank will fall across several business units and geographical locations and result in the loss of at least 200 positions, mostly with the title of Chief Operating Officer (COO), the sources said. HSBC, which used to position itself as the world's local bank, employs many COOs because country and business lines have their own separate COO, the sources said. The lender has been shrinking its sprawling global business for several years, downsizing in many regions and exiting some countries entirely as it tries to improve shareholder returns. The initiative, codenamed Project Banyan, follows HSBC's last major redundancy plan in 2020, which targeted up to 35,000 job cuts globally across all staffing levels. Three separate sources confirmed job cuts were underway, as HSBC joins a chorus of other western banks axing staff as a bleak global economic outlook weighs on business, consumer and investment banking revenues.

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