(Reuters) -HSBC has decided to wind down its wealth and personal banking business in New Zealand, the bank said on Tuesday, as it exits from less profitable businesses globally to focus on expanding in certain Asian markets.
The process, as a result of a strategic review, will happen over several years in a phased manner, it said in a statement.
The London-headquartered lender can "no longer justify investing into this business given the changing operating requirements in the market and scalability of the business", it said.
HSBC is helping its local customers to switch to other personal and wealth service providers and in the coming months it “remains business as usual” for its customers and staff, a spokesperson for the bank said.
The decision comes after the bank last year said it was reviewing its retail banking business in the market with a view to selling it.
New Zealand is the latest market on the map the London and Hong Kong dual-listed bank decided to withdraw from.
Europe's largest lender is reviewing a possible exit from about one in five of the markets it operates in to sharpen its focus on Asian expansion, Chief Financial Officer Georges Elhedery told Reuters in May.
Its pivot to Asia has already triggered planned sales of its businesses in France, Greece, Russia and Canada.
The bank said it continues to operate and is committed to expanding its wholesale banking business in New Zealand - mostly serving international clients - which includes commercial banking and financial institutions and government, as well as markets and securities services businesses.
(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru and Selena Li in Hong Kong; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Stephen Coates)
