ABN Amro shuts Japanese business

ABN Amro shut its Japanese equities business yesterday but said it was not planning to pull out of other Asian hubs.

'We have no further plans for further closures in equities in Asia,' an ABN spokesman in Hong Kong said.

The Tokyo operations being discontinued include the Japanese equity research and sales, distribution, equity capital markets and equity sales teams elsewhere distributing Japanese shares.

ABN said it would retain and continue to develop its 'highly successful' global equity derivatives business in Japan and a team of brokers selling European and other overseas equities to Japanese clients. The move would cost 100 jobs in Japan and 20 elsewhere.

'We are providing assistance in seeking new opportunities to those staff affected,' ABN said.

As word travelled, rumours hit other markets in which ABN operates, especially where it had scheduled meetings. It said those meetings were simply to explain the downsizing.