Credit Suisse and HSBC announce job cuts

Back-office and IT staff are among those leaving Credit Suisse and HSBC after the banks announced job cuts yesterday.

Credit Suisse is cutting 10 per cent, or 650 positions. HSBC will cut headcount by 500. Many banks are now in their second or third round of cuts and some have also taken action by cutting contractor rates - Citibank is the latest to cut 15 per cent from contractor rates.

Business mediator Acas said it has seen a big increase in firms seeking advice about redundancy programmes. It said it had three times as many visitors to its website in November compared to May and 31 per cent of enquiries are now about redundancies, up 12 per cent from May.

Venture capital firm 3i is laying off 15 per cent of staff or about 100 UK jobs.

Outside the IT industry jobs are also going at Aston Martin, Stagecoach and retailer Halfords.

All this bad news is having the expected impact on consumer confidence - Nationwide's consumer confidence survey fell to its lowest level since May 2004 - when the survey started. ®