Banking giant HSBC plans to shift 3,500 more jobs from Britain to locations in India and Malaysia, on top of the 4,000 jobs it said it will transfer overseas in October 2003, reported British newspapers.

The bank announced on Thursday that Britain's most profitable bank was 'redeploying or removing' about 3,500 mainly head office and regional management posts, stunning workers' unions, said The Guardian.

Hyderabad and Bangalore are expected to be the principal beneficiaries of HSBC's decision to relocate processing and call centre jobs to centres in Asia.

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The announcement makes HSBC follow similar moves by Bank of America, National Rail Inquiries, BT, Goldman Sachs, Abbey National and Prudential.

The finance and banking services union Unifi condemned what it said was a 'savage' jobs cull, and warned that industrial action was a possibility, The Guardian reported.

The vast majority of those affected by the cuts work in the British head office, and in support and processing functions, The Guardian said, quoting a bank spokesman.

The bank intends to close three processing centres in Leeds, Avon and Frimley in 2006. With this the bank would have closed 10 centres in about 30 months.

HSBC recently reported record profits of £7.8bn for last year, and said it wanted to streamline its costs, improve productivity and cut bureaucracy.

HSBC said that the aim of the changes was to 'refocus the retail bank on the changing needs of today's customers.'

Meanwhile, workers' unions in the United Kingdom were discussing with members what action they would take.

HSBC Chief Executive Bill Dalton had earlier said the job cuts were essential for the bank's continued success.

He added, "As one of the world's largest financial service companies, HSBC has a responsibility to all its stakeholders to remain efficient and competitive. This includes increasing productivity and allocating resources to both developed and emerging markets."

"This is the best, indeed, the only way, of ensuring job security for our staff worldwide."

"The creation of new jobs in developing countries such as China, India and Malaysia is a very positive contribution to their economies."