Europe's biggest bank, HSBC, said about 10 per cent of its workforce in Taiwan will leave this year as the economy slows and as it integrates a recently acquired local bank.Nicholas Winsor, CEO and president of its Taiwan business, also said on Tuesday that HSBC expects its loan growth in Taiwan to slow from 2008 levels."It is unlikely in the current environment the loan growth would be faster in 2009 than this year," Winsor said on the sidelines of a business event. "Many of our clients had investment projects. They were put on hold."HSBC has not been hit as hard as its major rivals by the global financial crisis, but the economic slowdown prompted the lender to offer voluntary buy-outs for its employees.Under the program 300-400 out of its 3,000 employees are leaving at end of this year, he said."There will be a slight reduction in the short term, but in the long term we see an increase in staff," said the CEO, adding the reduction also came as it intergrates its acquisition of the Chinese Bank.HSBC had posted a pretax profit of T$5.94 billion ($179 million) from January to October, making it the second-most profitable foreign lender in Taiwan after Citigroup, according to government data."We have been very profitable. We are among the 10 most profitable lenders in Taiwan, moving up from top 20 last year," said the CEO.HSBC had a bad-loan ratio of 4.99 per cent as of end of October. It competes in Taiwan with other global banks including Citigroup, Standard Chartered and DBS.At 0608, shares of HSBC were down 0.24 per cent in Hong Kong, lagging the 0.23 per cent rise of the Hang Seng Index.
