HSBC to close New Castle site, cut 450 jobs

400
Advertisement

HSBC will shuffle off to Buffalo with the closing of its New Castle site. 

HSBC spokesman Robert Sherman confirmed that the ccompany  made an internal announcement that “we are exiting our New Castle site, where about 450 employees currently work.”

“About 400 employees were told of plans to relocate their jobs to other HSBC sites over next year,” Sherman stated.  “Recognizing the deep expertise among our local employees, many of the impacted employees will be offered the option to relocate. We’re also mindful that people may decide that leaving their homes and neighborhoods in Delaware is not desirable or possible, so we are also offering outplacement services to help them find new jobs, as well as severance pay.”  

About 50 employees will have the option of continuing to work for HSBC in remote working arrangements, for example a mix of work-from-home and from our Wilmington office, Sherman stated, adding that a small number of positions will be eliminated. 

These changes will occur in phases, with completion before the end of 2018 when our lease expires, he concluded. 

Advertisement

“This is difficult news for the nearly 500 Delawareans and their families who work for HSBC, as well as for Wilmington and our state,” Sens. Tom Carper, Chris Coons and Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester stated.  “In the coming days, we will do everything we can, along with the Delaware Department of Labor, to help these valuable skilled employees find employment. Delaware remains an outstanding place to do business with a world-class talent pool. We look forward to working with Governor Carney and channeling our energy into positive job growth.”

Gov. John Carney offered the following statement: 

“This is a disappointing and difficult decision, especially for the more than 400 Delaware workers who are affected, and for their families. We understand that HSBC has made a business decision to consolidate operations, but these are skilled workers in a high-growth industry in our state. We’re especially disappointed because we were not offered an opportunity to compete for these jobs. We will do our best to make sure that Delaware’s workers who are affected by this decision are connected with the resources they need to successfully land on their feet.”

The Buffalo News reported that with many positions transferred to Chicago and Buffalo. The city in New York is the U.S. headquarters of the multi-national bank.

The jobs, while amounting to a tiny percentage of total financial services employment in the state is nonetheless bad news in an industry that remained stable in the recession and even added jobs during the recovery.

Of late, the key sector of the economy has seen job losses as Delaware’s unemployment rate moved above the national average in April. 

HSBC, formerly Marine Midland, was one of the early banks to come into Delaware as the Financial Center Development Act brought jobs to the state in the 1980s.

However, the bank pulled back on earlier expansion plans years later, a move that led to a glut of office space for a time in downtown Wilmington.

Advertisement
Previous articleCounty Chamber move to city still scheduled for June 1
Next articleBusiness people: May 24, 2017
Delaware Business Now is a four-year-old, five-day-a-week newsletter and website operated by Bird Street Media LLC. Publisher and Chief Content Officer is Doug Rainey, a 30-year veteran of business journalism in the state of Delaware.  Business Now focuses on breaking business news in Delaware and immediate adjacent areas with apropriate background and perspective. Also offered exclusively in our FREE newsletter is commentary on state and regional issues. Have a complaint, question or even a compliment? Send an email to drainey@delawarebusinessnow.com. For advertising information, click on the About tab at the top of the home page Our business hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Call us at 302.753.0691.
Advertisement