HSBC to Withdraw From Japan Consumer Banking, Close Branches

HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s largest bank, will withdraw from consumer banking in Japan, closing down six branches four years after starting the business.

HSBC will stop selling new investment products, including mutual funds, from March 8, and it will end operations in its branches in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya by July 31, the London-based bank said in the memo e-mailed to its customers yesterday and obtained by Bloomberg News. A spokesman in London confirmed the details of the e-mail.