Compass Bank, a unit of the Spanish Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (BBVA.MC), said Friday it will shed 1,200 U.S. jobs, or 10 per cent of its total workforce to combat the unfolding economic crisis.

BBVA purchased the US Compass Bank back in 2007 in a transaction originally valued at $9.6 billion, more than tripling its U.S. branch base, especially in areas with large Spanish-speaking populations.

BBVA recently said it had lost up to $404 million from investing with Bernard Mafodd, which was part of an alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

This makes the quick facts on Compass Bank’s website such as the following sound rather ironic:

“In contrast to what you hear about many in the financial industry, neither Compass nor BBVA has been exposed to sub-prime or other exotic mortgages. We have maintained strong growth with prudent credit risk standards with no exposure to the riskier, more leveraged assets that are causing so many of the problems making headlines today.”