HSBC Insurance Brokers job cuts yet to be considered

Marsh chief executive Dan Glaser said the prospect of job losses within HSBC Insurance Broker’s 1400 staff will not be decided until next year.

Glaser, speaking shortly after Marsh announced its acquisition of HSBC Insurance Brokers today (see: Marsh confirms HSBC Insurance Brokers acquisition), said that any job losses are “yet to be quantified” and that he doesn't expect the deal to complete until the end of Q1 2010.

A Marsh spokesman said any decision over jobs would follow a "thorough review of where business opportunites lie."

However Glaser said that the acquisition – which will result in Marsh adding 30 HSBC Insurance Brokers offices worldwide - was “driven by growth.”

“Our focus is realising growth opportunities that result in the combination of these complementary businesses,” he said. “There are limited areas of overlap and some areas where we both have big positions are exactly areas where we feel very comfortable in growing. Take Hong Kong as an example. Both of us are quite large in Hong Kong but I’m not looking at this as a way to get smaller in Hong Kong, I’m looking at this as a way how Marsh gets bigger in Hong Kong and in greater China in general.”

With regards to the UK business, chief executive Martin South said the broker was still working out its operating model and whether existing HSBC offices in the UK would be integrated with Marsh offices.