Banking giant HSBC today warned it will cut up to 30,000 posts by 2013 as the jobs cull among the world's big banks gathers pace. HSBC is currently in the process of reducing its headcount by 5,000 but chief executive Stuart Gulliver warned the cuts were set to go deeper, although he stressed the 30,000 figure excludes HSBC's future expansion plans. The updated restructuring plan comes despite better-than-expected results for the six months to June after profits improved 3 per cent to 11.5bn US dollars (£7bn), with the company's Asian business again the driving force. In the UK, where the company has 1,290 branches and around 52,000 staff, profits rose 29 per cent to £843 million. HSBC's move reflects tougher times for the investment banking arms of the big banks that has seen widespread redundancies announced at rivals Credit Suisse and UBS in the past week.