HSBC is planning to add 4000 staff in China’s Pearl River Delta region over the next three to four years to handle its retail banking and wealth management business. This will mean a 30% increase from 13,000 employees in the Pearl River Delta and contrast with the bank’s three-year plan to cut global headcount by some 50,000 and reduce annual costs by up to $5 billion. The bank has outlined a proposal to shift investment to Asia, its best-performing region, while cutting unprofitable divisions. The bank would aim to increase its pretax profit in the Pearl River Delta to $1 billion within five years from $100 million last year.
