The US bank and financial services group has confirmed it is close its SMA arm but stressed its commitment to wealth, investment and asset management in Asia.

BNY Mellon has confirmed a recent decision to pull out of its separately managed accounts business in Asia, known as SPECTRUM, but insisted that the move has “no impact” on its other asset management, wealth and investment offerings in the region.

“We remain fully committed to the Asia-Pacific region as we have been for nearly 100 years,” a spokesperson for the firm told this publication in emailed statement yesterday.

“BNY Mellon confirms its recent decision to withdraw from our separately managed accounts business, SPECTRUM, in Asia. We are actively working with our counterparties to manage this matter,” the spokesperson said.

The US firm commented after AsiaInvestor said that the firm had shut its SMA platform and laid off up to 50 staff in Asia, saying that the change represented an “embarrassing loss of face for the firm and its Asia-Pacific chief executive Alan Harden, who has been hell-bent on hiring to build out its wholesale offering”.

The publication went on to state that “questions have been raised over Harden’s future at the firm”; however a spokesperson told AsianInvestor that he will stay on as regional chief.