NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s biggest bank by market value, cut about 20 positions in its bond group in New York a day after the firm reported a drop in trading revenue, said two people with knowledge of the firings.Pierre Goad, a London-based spokesman for HSBC’s investment bank, confirmed there were dismissals. He wouldn’t provide details on the number of job losses or the positions. The reductions affected a group of 130 in bonds in New York, Hong Kong and London. HSBC also cut at least seven jobs in its US equities unit, another person said.

Stephen Green, promoted in May to be HSBC’s chairman, is scaling back in the US after overseeing an expansion of securities trading and investment banking in his three years as chief executive officer. The bank has said over the past year it intends to limit expense growth at the unit. On December 5, it said the division’s third-quarter earnings were hurt by lower trading revenue.

Trading “was one of the areas of disappointment”, said Euan Stirling, an Edinburgh-based fund manager at Standard Life Investments who helps manage about $158 billion and holds HSBC stock.

“The job losses aren’t a drop in the ocean, but they aren’t hugely significant either.”

The company “made a small number of redundancies in New York”, HSBC’s Goad said.

“This isn’t a change in strategy. This is a routine alignment of resources to reflect the changing markets in which we operate.”

HSBC is eliminating positions as competitors such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley post record earnings. Net trading income at HSBC’s securities unit rose 76 percent in the first half, lagging the 92 percent gain at London-based Barclays Plc’s investment banking unit, Barclays Capital.

Stuart Gulliver, a 26-year HSBC veteran, was picked in May to take sole control of the investment bank. The division accounted for about 25 percent of HSBC’s pretax profit in the first half.

The departures included Patrick Haskell, 34, a managing director and head of North American interest-rate sales and trading. Haskell, who joined last year from Credit Suisse Group, said in an interview that he resigned. He declined further comment.

Michael Furman, 45, a managing director and co-head of rates sales, Greg Bartoli, 29, the co-head of government bond trading, and George Nunn, 38, a derivatives trader, also left. Furman declined to comment, while Bartoli and Nunn couldn’t be reached.

In Asia, HSBC eliminated at least eight investment banking jobs this week, said three people with knowledge of the decision. The departures include Allen Chien, managing director and head of the transportation team in Asia, and Wellington Chow, who’s based in Taiwan, said the people, who declined to be identified.

Under former chairman John Bond, HSBC in 2003 started a five-year plan to expand the investment bank and narrow the gap with Wall Street securities firms. The unit added about 1,400 people last year, increasing expenses and contributing to a decline in the division’s pretax earnings.

Expenses at the securities unit, which surged to 61.1 cents of every dollar made in the first half of 2005, fell to 55.4 cents in the first half of this year.

HSBC said that the division’s revenue growth in emerging markets was faster than in established markets during the first half.

Shares of London-based HSBC climbed one pence to 919 pence in trading yesterday, after declining in the past two trading sessions.

HSBC is one of 22 primary US government securities dealers that trade with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.