HSBC To Close Summit Branch

HSBC announced plans to close their downtown Summit branch at 47 Maple Street as part of a plan to close 13 branches across northern New Jersey and Connecticut.

The early Monday morning announcement is officially billed as a consolidation of the Summit branch with the branch at 407 Main Street in Chatham. The closure of the 13 branches comes on the same day that HSBC announced the sale of 195 retail branches across upstate New York and Connecticut to First Niagara Bank and layoffs of 30,000 employees around the world.

“The decision was made after a review,” HSBC spokesman Neil Brazil said of the decision to close the branch. “It was consistent with our decision in upstate New York.”

HSBC announced in May that they would be conducting performances reviews of all retail branches. In press materials released Monday, the bank said the closures conclude the review process.

Brazil said no timeline has been set for the closure of the Summit branch or any of the branches on the list. Press materials released by HSBC said the branch closures will be completed by early 2012.

Brazil said the 13 branches being closed did not have “strong international connectivity.” He did not define what the bank considers to be “strong international connectivity.”

While HSBC executives have said the bank will be laying off the 30,000 employees from their global workforce, the direct impact on Summit has not been announced.

“It is too soon to say,” Brazil said regarding potential layoffs.

Press materials released by HSBC regarding the First Niagara sale indicated that the amount of layoffs resulting from the sale has not been determined.

Brazil said that customers will be notified by HSBC as part of the closure. He did not release a timeline for notification of customers. Press materials released by HSBC said that the bank will automatically transfer customer accounts from one branch to the other and that no action is needed by the customer to transfer the account.

The Summit branch is one of two HSBC branches in Union County to close. HSBC indicated that the Westfield branch on Elm Street will be closing as well. The Westfield branch is being consolidated into a branch at 33 Route 27 in North Edison.

The New Jersey branch closures impact 12 branches in Union, Middlesex, Hudson and Bergen Counties, with Morris County seeing branches consolidated into the Chatham branch. The closure also includes closing branches in Newark, Hoboken and the Journal Square neighborhood of Jersey City. These branches are being billed as being consolidated into a branch in the Newport-Pavonia neighborhood of Jersey City. 

HSBC indicated that the Millburn Avenue branch in Millburn will also be consolidated into the Chatham branch, along with Summit.

HSBC is closing one retail branch in Norwalk, Conn., saying it will be consolidated with a retail bank in Westport, Conn.

Brazil did not elaborate on why the branches were being closed instead of being included in the sale to Buffalo-based First Niagara Bank. 

“That was a business decision that is proprietary,” he said.

List of HSBC Branch Closings