HSBC is resuming plans to cut around 35,000 jobs and maintain the freeze on all external hiring.

Reuters reports that the corresponding announcement has been made by Chief Executive Noel Quinn in the memo sent to HSBC’s 235,000 staff worldwide.

“We could not pause the job losses indefinitely - it was always a question of ‘not if, but when’,” said Quinn in the memo.

HSBC had postponed the job cuts in March saying the extraordinary circumstances meant it would be wrong to push staff out.

Nevertheless, now HSBC to resume the plan as profits fall and economic forecasts point to a challenging time ahead. According to Quinn, he had asked senior executives to look at ways to cut more costs in the second half of 2020.