LONDON, May 11: HSBC on Wednesday unveiled plans to slash costs by up to $3.5 billion within two years, as new boss Stuart Gulliver stamped his mark and drew a line under the global financial crisis.

The British lender, which survived the 2008 crisis without state aid unlike many of its rivals, announced in a strategic review that it would seek to save $2.5-3.5bn in costs by 2013.

“Headcount clearly will be lower,” chief executive Gulliver told reporters in London, the headquarters of Europe's biggest bank.

Shares in HSBC fell 1.54 per cent to close at 646.1 pence on London's FTSE 100 index, which dropped 0.71 per cent to 5,976 points.

“The new chief executive is clearly attempting to stamp his mark on the company,” said Keith Bowman, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers.

Gulliver, who took the reins in January and unveiled mixed first-quarter earnings on Monday, said the enormous cost savings would be ploughed back into fast-growing markets around the world, notably Asia.

“Our strategy is to be the leading international bank, concentrating on commercial and wholesale banking in globally connected markets,” Gulliver said in the bank's strategy update.

HSBC will also conduct a separate assessment of its US branch network and cards business, which Gulliver said could be sold but only for a “sensible” price. Other cash-saving measures include a streamlining of IT operations.

“What we have seen recently is a large group of companies that have newly appointed chief executives undertaking a change of strategy of which HSBC is an example,” said Atif Latif, director of trading at Guardian Stockbrokers.

Gulliver “has to make some bold calls to make sure that growth areas are maintained and operations where there seems to be limited upside are being wound down.

“The focus for cost efficiency by closing down underperforming units and dealing with for example the US arm shows that tough calls are being made to streamline operations,” added Latif.

HSBC chairman Douglas Flint told journalists that it was the first time in four years that the bank had choices, having dealt with the fallout from the global financial crisis.—AFP