HSBC Stock Higher on U.K. Job Cuts

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- HSBC (HSBC) - Get Report stock is up 0.71% to $31.03 in late-morning trading on Monday, as the British bank will relocate 840 information technology jobs to India and lower-cost countries from the U.K. in an effort to reduce costs.

The company hopes to reduce its annual costs by $5 billion by 2017 partly by eliminating 8,000 British jobs by the end of the year, Reuters reports. The restructuring will ultimately eliminate one job in five globally and about a sixth of the jobs in Britain.

"HSBC's decision to axe so many IT jobs is as ruthless as it is reckless," Dominic Hook, national officer at the Unite union told Reuters. "As IT glitches across the banks continue to prove, it is ultimately the customers who will suffer the consequences."

Issues with the company's computer system denied customers access to online accounts on two occasions this year.