HSBC Holdings is letting go of almost 40 investment bankers in Hong Kong, including four managing directors, according to people familiar with the matter.

The layoffs are said to include Luying Gan, head of sustainable debt capital markets for Asia Pacific, Venkat Rao, managing director for debt syndicate and head of local currency and private placements for APAC, Viet Phan, head of chemicals for APAC and Heidi Chan, head of consumer retail for APAC. There are also cuts in coverage areas including equity capital markets, healthcare, real estate, M&A, financial institutions, and technology, media and telecommunications.

The layoffs are part of an ongoing reorganisation since Georges Elhedery took over as CEO last September. The bank could cut 17,000 jobs as part of an attempt to save US$2.5bn annually or 22,000 jobs to reach US$3.5bn in savings, Barclays analysts have estimated.

HSBC in January said it would quit M&A advisory and equity capital market activities in the UK, the rest of Europe and the Americas as part of a major retrenchment in its investment bank by Elhedery.

The bank is due to report annual earnings on Wednesday.

HSBC declined to comment.