Big banks fire thousands in Europe, but hiring in China

Eight of Europe's biggest banks have announced tens of thousands of job cuts in Britain, France, Spain and Switzerland in a bid to reduce salary costs, but will keep expanding and hiring new staff in China.

Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), a British conglomerate which is Europe's biggest bank, on Tuesday (2 August) announced 30,000 job cuts worldwide by 2013 - about 10 percent of its staff. Most of these cuts will affect its EU and US branches, in a bid to save some €2 b...