--HSBC has reactivated its plan to cut up to 35,000 jobs, paused during the pandemic

--The lender first announced the plan in February but hasn't specified where jobs will be cut 



  By Sabela Ojea 


  HSBC Holdings PLC said Wednesday that it has reactivated its plan to cut up to 35,000 jobs over three years, previously paused because of the coronavirus pandemic. 


  The Asia-focused, U.K.-based lender originally set out the plan in February but put it on hold during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. It noted the 35,000 figure is not a target, but an estimation. 


  Chief Executive Noel Quinn said in a memo to its employees that the bank's profits fell in the first quarter of the year and that all economic forecasts point to challenging times ahead. 


  "The reality is that the measures and the change we announced in February are even more necessary today," Chief Executive Noel Quinn added, acknowledging that the plan was paused because "it would have been wrong to proceed with job losses" during the most crucial coronavirus period. 


  HSBC, which currently employs 235,000 employs worldwide, said information on which departments, regions or members would be affected hadn't been specified yet. 


  Dominic Hook, national officer of the Unite union, said it was opposed to "any compulsory job losses within HSBC" and said the bank should stand by its workforce in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. 


  Write to Sabela Ojea at sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix