Bloomberg reports HSBC Holdings plans to step up hiring in China for its retail and wealth business next year as the UK lender persists with its expansion there despite the country’s economic slowdown and measures to stem capital outflows. The bank increased the number of retail-bank employees in China’s Pearl River Delta by 57% in the 12 months to September, according to Kevin Martin, the firm’s Asia-Pacific head of retail banking and wealth management. The pace of hiring may accelerate in 2017 as the London-based lender expands in areas from mortgages to credit cards, personal lending and wealth services in the manufacturing hub north of Hong Kong, he said. HSBC is starting its credit-card business in China on Monday after receiving regulatory approval to issue cards by itself, having previously done so in partnership with Bank of Communications Co.