LONDON (Bloomberg) — HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank, is to eliminate about 500 jobs in Britain, including positions at its head office in London, two people familiar with the plan said.

The reductions include clerical and computer-services jobs, said one of the people who declined to be identified. An announcement may come as early as next week, said two of the people. The company employs about 60,000 people in the U.K. and 335,000 worldwide.

HSBC, which hasn't needed U.K. government assistance to boost its capital, cut 500 jobs in Asia this month, citing deteriorating economic conditions. It also fired 1,100 workers in its global banking and market division in September, amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Job losses in the financial services industry may double to 350,000 worldwide by mid-2009, according to an estimate from search firm CTPartners.

"We would never comment on any matter involving our staff without talking to our staff first," said a spokesman for the bank. "The UK is a successful business. The environment in which we operate changes constantly and HSBC changes to match our customers."

HSBC this month said UK consumer-banking revenue was "resilient" in the third quarter after the company increased mortgage lending in the first half.

Separately, Metrovacesa SA, Spain's largest real estate company by market value, said it's proposing to sell HSBC the London head office it occupies for 838 million pounds ($1.3 billion).

HSBC rose 1.3 percent to 715 pence in London trading, valuing the bank at 86.5 billion pounds. HSBC has declined 15 percent this year, the best-performing bank in the Bloomberg European Banks Index.