HSBC is resuming plans to cut around 35,000 jobs which it had put on the ice after the coronavirus outbreak, as Europe’s biggest bank grapples with the impact on its already falling profits.

It will also maintain a freeze on almost all external hiring, chief executive Noel Quinn said in a memo sent to HSBC’s 2,35,000 staff worldwide on Wednesday and seen by Reuters.

“We could not pause the job losses indefinitely — it was always a question of ‘not if, but when’,” Quinn said, adding that the measures first announced in February were “even more necessary today”.

An HSBC spokeswoman confirmed the contents of the memo.

HSBC had postponed the job cuts, part of a wider restructuring to cut $4.5 billion in costs, in March saying the extraordinary circumstances meant it would be wrong to push staff out.

However, Quinn said it now had to resume the programme as profits fall and economic forecasts point to a challenging time ahead, adding that he had asked senior executives to look at ways to cut more costs in the second half of 2020.

The bulk of the job cuts are likely in the back office at Global Banking and Markets (GBM), which houses HSBC’s investment banking and trading, a senior executive familiar with the plans said.