HSBC Middle East has cut more than 150 jobs from its UAE banking operations, as Europe’s biggest lender strives to save costs amid declining profitability.

Job cuts, affected mid-November, were mainly done in the bank’s global businesses and functions, which includes retail banking and wealth management arm and its commercial banking divisions among others, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The number of people laid off at the bank could be as high as 300, says one of the sources. No job cuts were implemented in the bank’s investment banking arm, says the same source.

“As flagged in our Investor update we have targeted significant cost reductions by the end of 2017, and we continually review and manage our overall headcount requirements,” an HSBC Middle East spokeswoman said in response to MEED questions.

International parent company HSBC Holdings, plans to cut its workforce by as many as 25,000 and sell operations in Turkey and Brazil to help boost profits. The bank is implementing a three-year plan, which will see its full-time employees to drop down by about 10 per cent in number, The sale of businesses will lower headcount by a further 25,000, helping cut annual costs by $4.5bn-$5bn by the end of 2017, according to media reports citing HSBC’s June investor presentation.

Retail banking and wealth management division of HSBC Middle East reported a pre-tax profit of $29m for the three-month period ending September 30, down $91m reported for the same period in 2014. The commercial banking arm reported a profit of $115m at September end, which compares with $150m announced for the same period last year, according to HSBC’s third-quarter earnings release.