Global banking giant HSBC said yesterday it will cut 700 jobs in Britain, and blamed upcoming changes in the law for providing financial advice to consumers.

The job losses were announced on the same day that state-rescued Lloyds Banking Group unveiled plans to axe 15,000 staff, or 14 per cent of its workforce, in a major overhaul to save £1.5 billion a year by 2014.

“Seven hundred jobs are at risk in the UK bank and it’s mainly in the financial advice area, dotted throughout the country,” a HSBC spokesman said.

The London-listed bank is reshaping its wealth management business before new rules are introduced in 2013 to govern the provision of advice.

“From then onwards, if you want financial advice you will have to pay for it up front,” said the spokesman.

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