The Bank of Bermuda's sale to HSBC could result in up to 250 job cuts in its Bermuda operation, but won't result in an influx of expatriate workers from the multinational banking giant.

The deal, announced on Tuesday, will see HSBC ? the second largest financial services organisation in the world ? take over the bank's operations here and around the world.

At a press conference announcing the sale on Tuesday, senior executives said they could not put a figure on the number of redundancies but said there would be "meaningful" cuts over the next three years.

Yesterday, chief operations officer Philip Butterfield said there had been concern from staff over their job security but that 250 would be the maximum number of jobs to go locally.

"There have been lots of questions around how many redundancies might we expect and how many people does HSBC intend to bring into the organisation. In respect to the number of redundancies, we made it very clear in discussions with Government (leading up to the sale) that during a three-year period of integration, there was the likelihood of up to 250 jobs being made redundant."

In total, the bank has 1,184 employees (as of yesterday), with 248 of those jobs being held by work permit holders.

Yesterday, Mr. Butterfield said that some of the staff to get the axe could be those who currently have a role overseeing the global operations, as after the sale the bank's international offices will be absorbed into HSBC operations and won't require two global heads.

"We are today a global company headquartered in Bermuda so all of the management, except for Paul Smith (the head of GFS) who is in Hong Kong, sit here in Bermuda. That means that those with a global role are either going to have their jobs redefined or their jobs eliminated because it will represent duplication within HSBC. That is where you will see the first visible effect from redundancies," he said.

Mr. Butterfield also said some of the bank's streamlining of its staffing levels would happen naturally: "We have a rate of attrition ? people leaving the organisation for various reasons, whether they retire, go to another employer, and there are those fired for various reasons ? which has averaged, annually, about 130 for the last five years. There is no reason to expect that to change."

Even for those likely to see their job cut, Mr. Butterfield said they may be considered for an HSBC job somewhere else in the world. "A truism of the Bank of Bermuda is we do have some great people. Those willing to relocate and with a set of skills that are in demand, they will place themselves in a position to be considered."

Mr. Butterfield also shot down any rumours that a "fleet of HSBC staff would be coming to the Island to take over bank jobs.

"There are the two HSBC persons joining us on the management team. One is going to become our chief financial officer and it was not unanticipated that an acquirer would want to handle the financials," he said.

Mr. Butterfield continued: "If you were buying something you would want your person counting the beans. It was well within reason for that to happen."

That development means that CFO Ed Gomez will be leaving the bank: "Ed Gomez, who is currently our CFO, has been fully engaged on this matter from the outset. He is off on medical leave (for a back injury) at the moment but we have agreed a transition and will later announce an effective date for that to take place.

"The second person who is going to join will be in a senior operations management role. This person will assist with our integration with HSBC and ensure that we have proper access to the right people within HSBC to serve our customers. He is a linkage person.

"At some point in time when we are comfortable with our respective maturity, we could move beyond needing that but for at least the first three years that role will be necessary. And that is the full extent of what we have discussed. Any other supplementary resource will come in on an as-needed basis and on a short-term basis. There will not be a permanent influx of HSBC personnel," Mr. Butterfield said, adding that minimal impact on the Island's infrastructure had been key to their discussion with Government over the deal.

"It took some further conversation (with Government) for that to be fully embraced but the initial suspicion, or anticipation, was that all the Bermudians were going to be unemployed and that we'd be overrun with non-residents. But what we achieved in the end was a clearer understanding of how the transaction would unfold. That included concrete evidence that the motto HSBC has is real, that they are the world's local bank.

"You don't achieve that by coming in with an army of people not from the jurisdiction served. What we are going to have is this complementary relationship of appropriate professionals working with existing management team to allow to better serve existing customers.

"I am pleased that (BIU president) Derrick Burgess (who has been critical of the deal) understands math, (when he said ) that the majority can be (as low as) 51 percent but he is mistaken in his view that there would be significant displacement of Bermudians from the workforce."