Singapore

BARCLAYS' decision to shut its Asia cash-equity business and shed more than 200 jobs in this region puts it in familiar company with BNP, CIMB and Standard Chartered, as they shut or restructure an unwieldy business that emerged mostly from assets bought around the time of the crisis.

The UK bank on Thursday was reported to have closed its cash-equity research, sales and trading as well as convertible-bond trading businesses in all Asian countries, Financial Times reported. The closure takes immediate effect, it said, citing a memo circulated to clients of the bank, which had about 18,000 people in the Asia-Pacific on its payroll as at 2014.