Back in February, HSBC, Europe’s largest bank and troubled lender, announced a plan that would slash upwards of 35,000 jobs. Shortly after, the lender put restructuring plans on hold for three months due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Now, Bloomberg reports, HSBC is resuming plans to cut tens of thousands of jobs as a way to boost profitability in today’s challenging environment.
“Since February, we have pressed forward with some aspects of our transformation program, but we now need to look to the long term and move ahead with others, including reducing our costs,” CEO Noel Quinn wrote in a memo obtained by Bloomberg.
“Against this backdrop, I’m writing to let you know we now need to lift the pause on job losses,” Quinn said. “I know that this will not be welcome news and that it will create understandable concern and uncertainty, but I want to be open with you about the reality of the current situation.”
Quinn unveiled plans to “remodel” large parts of the bank in late 2019. The actual restructuring wasn’t revealed until February — which said the global lender’s 235,000 workforce will be lowered by 35,000 over the next three years. As the lender shrinks its footprint, it expects to save $4.5 billion at underperforming units.Recommended VideosWall Street Bounces, After Selloff Fed Boosts LiquidityPauseUnmuteDuration 0:33/Current Time 0:09Loaded: 100.00% FullscreenUp Next
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“Europe and the U.S. are expected to face the brunt of the cuts as HSBC attempts to turn around its businesses in regions where it has struggled to make money. The lender’s global banking and markets business, which houses its corporate advisory and market units, is expected to face significant reductions in areas such as equities sales and trading.
“HSBC is eyeing the sale of some of its businesses and is already looking for a buyer for its French retail operations, the disposal of which would take several thousand staff off its payroll,” Bloomberg notes.
A downturn in the global economy, no recovery for several years, and a harsh operating climate, HSBC is expected to announce deeper cuts:
“Despite banks’ commitments to retain staff through the pandemic crisis, we believe it is only a matter of time before substantial further cost-trimming plans are announced, with efficiencies identified as we work through the COVID crisis important in this context too,” John Cronin, an analyst at Goodbody, wrote in a note.
HSBC shares have widely underperformed European peers
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HSBC negatively diverges global stocks
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European banks have been operating in an ultra-low interest rate environment, strict regulations, and a continually evolving industry where fintech companies have upended old banking business models.
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Doubleline Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach recently said in his DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund webcast that negative interest rates had killed bank stocks in Europe and Japan.
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We noted in late 2019, 50 banks laid off 77,780 jobs, the most since 91,448 in 2015 — we’re assuming by now, in a post-corona world, where the global economy is in recession — that a record number of banking jobs will be lost from now until the end of 2021.
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Most of the HSBC job cuts will be based in Europe and the US.
StevieRay Hansen
Editor, Bankster Crime
Source: ZeroHedge
Code of Lock Down
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Google’s nothing more than a criminal tyrant organization, they mislead millions of people into believing their services were free when in fact , what is the cost of freedom of speech? Hitler could not have done a better job of misleading the masses
The role of a watchman: Gives insight into the world at the end of this age. They see the dark gathering clouds on the world’s horizon that spell the end of Satan’s reign as the god of this world and author of all its evil. This leads them to mount the “walls” of society and shout a warning to any who will hear. To say: “God is sovereign. He will bring a time of judgment on the world to prove that He alone is God. All other gods erected by people to hide His truth will be destroyed.”
A national affliction
Today America and Great Britain stand at a crossroads. For more than 200 years they have dominated the world in virtually every arena. As Great Britain retreated from its empire after World War II, America was there to take its place and continue the legacy set by the English through their peak years.
But America’s dominant power is under siege from many sectors. Its will to stay the course in Iraq is being tested, its military machine strained under the pressure of the extended fighting. Though it is the primary engine for the world’s economy, a weakened dollar and a trade balance deficit are both troubling indicators of a major crisis ahead.
God warns us through the message of the prophets that sins will demand a day of reckoning. People cannot continue worshipping the false gods of materialism and self, blindly stumbling along in their own righteousness, and expect their affluent standard of living to continue.
God’s Word confirms there will be an accounting; the lesson of history is that any people who corrupt their moral core will eventually fade from power. God calls on America and Great Britain to wake up, acknowledge their sins, and repent before national calamity descends on them.
“Do this and live”
Amos the prophet walked into the city of Samaria, capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, and boldly told the king and city leaders to repent or face captivity at the hands of the Assyrians. He pointed to neighboring states that had fallen and said, “You are no better than they were.”
He rebuked those who did not want to hear a “message of doom.” To those who stocked their homes with the finest luxury goods and gourmet foods, trusting that affluence was a sign of God’s blessing, he said, “Don’t trust in materialism.” The citizenry, at all levels, looked only to their comfort and ease and did not grieve “for the affliction of Joseph” (Amos 6:6).
Those who “grieve” and “sigh and cry” over societal sins are called to a unique role. They are part of God’s elect, called to the duty of proclaiming the announcement of the Kingdom of God. That message includes the good news of Jesus Christ’s return to restore all things (see Acts 3:19-21). The message also contains a warning to repent and receive God’s blessing or ignore the warning and face the judgment of God. It is a double-edged message—plain-spoken, yet full of hope.
Fulfilling this role requires courage, perseverance, and a love for the people addressed. One of the best examples of this was the prophet, Jeremiah. Jeremiah spent more than 40 years in the role of a watchman to the nation of Judah, urging people to heed his warnings and return to the ways of God.
Notice this passage: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk-in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it’ ” (Jeremiah 6:16).
God’s main message throughout the Bible is to return to His paths, His teachings, as the solution for the suffering and pain of human life. “Do this and live,” He says.
Jeremiah and others like him have stood in the role of a watchman. “Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ Therefore hear, you nations … Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people —the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heeded My words nor My law, but rejected it” (Jeremiah 6:17-19).
Today’s watchmen
Examining the concept of watching in the New Testament helps to complete the picture of this role. The Greek word Gregorio, translated as “watch,” means to keep awake, to watch, and to take heed. Through neglect or laziness, we could let down and be overcome with sin, or a sudden calamity could overwhelm us spiritually.
Notice in Mark 13:32-37, in Jesus’ prophecy of the end time, that He urges His disciples three times to “watch” during the times leading to His second coming. The emphasis is on a personal watch through prayer to know the times.
By prayer and righteous living, we stay tuned to Jesus Christ. Through this way of life one can discern the moral climate of the times and avoid being tossed around with every shifting ideology of modern culture. Walking in God’s laws and instruction insulates us from the course of the world and its deceptions.
Revelation 16 describes a massive end-time deception perpetrated by Satan and demons that work through the human instruments called “the Beast” and “the False Prophet” (Revelation 16:13). Their influence gathers the leaders of the earth “to the battle of that great day of God Almighty . . . to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon” (Revelation 16:14-16).
In our fascination over these otherworldly figures, we can easily skip over Christ’s charge: “Behold, I am coming as a thief”—suddenly and unexpectedly. “Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walks naked and they see his shame” (Revelation 16:15, emphasis added throughout).
Jesus pronounces a blessing for those who, during mankind’s darkest moment, watch. That is, they are living prudently and properly. The natural by-product of this close relationship with God is being alert to religious deception. Those who frame their life around the coming Kingdom of God will watch and keep themselves from the wiles of the devil.
This is the end result of fulfilling the role of a watchman within the Body of Christ—to be found standing in the faith, blessed of God at the dawn of His Kingdom on this earth.
Our world is moving toward this time of the global cataclysm. Revelation 16 describes a future moment when people will be caught up in events engineered through the Beast and False Prophet. The former is a political leader of compelling personality and ability; and the other, a religious leader unlike any in modern times.Together they will convince armies to move toward Jerusalem to fight Jesus Christ at His coming.
Warning and hope
This is a time for the watchmen to mount the walls and sound a clear, unmistakable warning message of the dangers facing not just the English-speaking peoples but also the whole world. It is time to make known the hope of the coming Kingdom of God.
Isaiah’s message stands bright and clear today: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’ Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, with their voices they shall sing together; for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord brings back Zion” (Isaiah 52:7).
Come, take your place on the walls, work for the Kingdom and pray for its speedy arrival!
These special servants understand the dangers of the present world. They see the dark clouds gathering on the world’s horizon and are moved to proclaim a warning message to all who will hear.
Google is dangerous to Christians, conservatives and fair-minded people, they twist the truth, they hide the facts getting Satan the other hand in society
The proposal calls for the rolling back of legal protections that online platforms have enjoyed for more than 20 years to try and make tech companies more responsible in how they police their content, CNET reports. The proposed reforms, to be announced later on Wednesday, are designed to require social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook or YouTube (owned by Google parent Alphabet) to be more active in policing sites for illicit or harmful content, while also requiring them to be more consistent in decisions to remove content they find objectionable.
Google Duo Adds ‘Family Mode’
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