The bank said the cuts will be made as chief executive Stuart Gulliver aims to cut annual costs by $3.5 billion.

That will involve 30,000 job losses by the end of 2013, Gulliver said last month, although he said 15,000 were likely to be added in Asia and other emerging markets.

“We will be focusing primarily on our support functions as we restructure to reduce management layers and improve efficiency,” HSBC Asia-Pacific chief executive Peter Wong said in an e-mail to employees seen by Reuters.

“This does mean jobs will be eliminated ... our best estimate at this time is that approximately 3,000 existing roles will be reduced over these three years,” Wong said.

Gulliver’s restructuring will also see HSBC retreat from countries such as Poland, Russia and the US, where it lacks scale and has been struggling to compete.