HONG KONG - Royal Bank of Scotland is closing its equity capital market and corporate finance units in South Korea and cash equities businesses in Indonesia, Singapore and Korea, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

RBS officials were not immediately available to comment. The memo said the decision to close some units comes after an agreement with Malaysia's second-biggest lender CIMB Group Holdings, which is not buying the units.

CIMB said this month it had entered into exclusive talks with RBS to acquire some of its Asia Pacific cash equities and investment banking businesses.

"However, for commercial reasons, we have agreed with CIMB that the cash equities, ECM and corporate finance businesses in Korea and cash equities in Indonesia and Singapore will not ultimately transfer as part of the sale," the memo said.

"We have therefore made the decision to initiate steps to wind down these businesses commencing today."

A significant chunk of RBS' operations are located in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and India and it has offices in 11 countries across the region, including China.