HSBC is to scale back its Russian private banking presence to a single representative office as it moves to abandon entirely its retail banking operations in the country.

The banking giant has said its five branches in Moscow and St Petersburg would shut their doors by the end of the summer.

The move means many of HSBC’s 500 staff in the country will lose their jobs, although a spokesperson for the bank in London declined to disclose the exact number of redundancies when contacted by WealthBriefing.

The bank also moved to quash speculation that it was winding down its private banking operations in Russia as a consequence of its connections with Hermitage Capital Management – HSBC is trustee of the troubled asset management firm, which specialises in Russian markets.

HSBC’s London spokesperson instead suggested the move “is simply about repositioning HSBC to focus on the strongest opportunity in Russia”.

The statement echoes earlier comments made by Huseyin Ozkaya, chief executive of HSBC Russia. “Following a strategic review it’s clear that the strongest opportunity for HSBC in Russia lies in servicing corporate and institutional clients,” he said, adding that the bank wanted to focus more on clients who are trading and investing internationally.

Hermitage founder Bill Browder was denied entry into Russia in 2006 after the government declared him a threat to national security, and the firm’s lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky - who had alleged official collusion in tax fraud - died in prison in 2009 after reportedly being refused medical treatment.