Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Britain’s biggest state-owned lender, will wind down some operations in South Korea, Indonesia and Singapore, retreating from an earlier plan to sell them.

The U.K. lender is to close the cash equities, equity capital markets and corporate finance units in Korea, as well as the cash equities operations in Indonesia and Singapore, Yuk Min-hui, a spokeswoman for RBS in Hong Kong, said in an e- mailed response to queries. About 70 people will be affected, she said.

RBS Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hester, who has cut more than 30,000 jobs since receiving the world’s biggest banking bailout, last month reported a wider-than-estimated loss for 2011. The bank, which on Jan. 12 said it plans to jettison unprofitable units, is in talks to sell some Asia-Pacific assets to Malaysia’s CIMB Group Holdings Bhd.

“It was our goal to sell all of these APAC businesses together,” Hui said Tuesday. The Edinburgh-based lender has since determined that certain assets won’t be included in the sale to CIMB because of “commercial reasons” she said, without elaborating.

RBS will continue to operate its debt financing, transaction services and risk management businesses in Korea, Indonesia, Singapore and eight other Asia-Pacific countries, according to Hui.

Shares of RBS rose 3.7 percent to 29.17 pence in London trading Monday, narrowing their decline over the past year to 28 percent.

CIMB, based in Kuala Lumpur, and RBS signed a memorandum of understanding to negotiate the sale of the businesses in the region, the Malaysian lender said in a filing to the local stock exchange on March 1. CIMB Chief Executive Officer Nazir Razak, who is seeking to build a pan-Asian financial-services provider, said Feb. 27 that his bank is also in talks to acquire a stake in Manila-based Bank of Commerce.

Banks and brokerages in the Asia-Pacific region are joining global rivals that have cut more than 200,000 jobs since the beginning of 2011 as Europe’s debt crisis triggers a slowdown in the region. (Bloomberg)