Kaber McLean has been promoted to chief executive officer for Japan, from his previous role as HSBC’s head of global banking and markets in Asia-Pacific, according to an emailed statement from the bank.

McLean replaces Stuart Milne, who has been with the bank in the Japan for five years and will remain at HSBC. McLean was also appointed chairman of the Japanese brokerage and asset management units.

Last month HSBC agreed to sell its Japanese private banking unit to Zurich-based lender Credit Suisse, four years after initiating the business. The division manages assets worth $2.7 billion and the sale is expected to complete in the second quarter of this year, although neither bank has disclosed a price tag. HSBC may also sell HSBC Premier, the operation that targets affluent individuals in Japan, according to media reports.

HSBC, which makes most of its money in Asia, said earlier this week that it is preparing to offload its retail operations in Thailand, where it has agreed a sale with Bank of Ayudhya, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras, as part of CEO Stuart Gulliver’s plans to cut costs in anticipation of ongoing turmoil in the economic climate. 

Gulliver said last year that he wants to sharpen the bank's focus in Asia by exiting regions where it lacks scale. HSBC reported a 36 per cent fall in profits during the third quarter of last year, dragged down by its investment bank which was impacted by the Eurozone debt crisis and volatile markets.

McLean joined HSBC in London in 1996, and has worked at its global banking and markets businesses in London, New York and Hong Kong, according to the statement. He came to Hong Kong last year for his current role.

HSBC has had a presence in Japan since 1866, but only started serving high end customers in Tokyo in 2008. It has a relatively small presence, with around six branches in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. Japan is the country with the highest population of high net worth individuals in the whole of Asia, according to intelligence firm Wealth-X.