HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) - HSBC Holdings plans to add 4,000 staff in China's Pearl River Delta region over the next three to four years to grab retail banking and wealth management business.

Asia-Pacific chief executive officer Peter Wong outlined the plans in an interview with the Hong Kong Economic Times, published on Monday (Sept 21). The lender confirmed the report.

That would amount to a 30 per cent 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 US$5 billion (S$7 billion). HSBC is shifting investment to Asia, its best-performing region, while cutting unprofitable divisions.

HSBC aims to increase its pretax profit in the Pearl River Delta to US$1 billion within five years from US$100 million last year, Mr Wong was quoted as saying by the newspaper. Mr Gareth Hewett, a spokesman for HSBC in Hong Kong, confirmed the report.

HSBC shares fell 1.5 per cent in Hong Kong as of 9.43am, extending this year's decline to 20 per cent.