London: Europe’s largest bank HSBC will be cutting as many as 6,100 jobs in America, as the entity has decided to close down majority of its business network for consumer finance segment.

The job losses come as the bank would cease to write new consumer finance business through the HFC and Beneficial brands in the US.

Household Bank is a trading name of HFC Bank Ltd, which is a member of the HSBC Group.

“... we will close the majority of the HFC and Beneficial-branded US branch network, regrettably with the loss of 6,100 jobs. This will result in a restructuring charge of $265 million in the first half of 2009,” HSBC today said in a statement while announcing its annual results.

The firm has reported a pre-tax profit of $9.3 billion for the full year 2008, a decline of 62% as compared to the year-ago period.

HSBC attributed the decision not to write new consumer business, to lack of home equity, the deteriorating outlook for house price appreciation and very limited refinancing opportunities available to this customer segment in the near term.