Chase to quit retail banking in Singapore.

Affecting Up to 10,000 Customers, Move Will Trim Work Force by 80

SINGAPORE - Chase Manhattan Bank will pull out of retail banking in Singapore by yearend and cut some 80 employees in the process, the bank said.

After the closure, the bank will operate with a staff of 509 in Singapore, vice president Michael J. Barrett said in a statement.

"We will now concentrate on corporate banking, private banking, treasury/risk management, capital markets, and information services products in which we have strengths and where we see local and regional growth opportunities," he said.

Chase, whose Singapore retail business is nearly 30 years old, sold its credit card business to Overseas Union Bank Ltd. for an undisclosed sum in July.

Chase said its teller machines in Singapore will cease to operate from Dec. 1.

Its retail business closure will affect up to 10,000 customers, who will be given time to make alternative banking arrangements.

All retail activities at the bank's three Singapore branches will cease by yearend, and one of the branches will close entirely.

Mr. Barrett was not immediately available for comment on Chase's retail banking business in the region.

A spokeswoman for Chase told Reuters that with the closure of its Singapore retail units, the bank's main international retail business will be concentrated in Hong Kong.

It also has the dominant retail position in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Panama, she said.

Bank of America closed two of its four Singapore branches in 1986.

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