Japan online broker to quit HK, says FT

The owner of Japan's biggest online securities brokerage, SBI Holdings, plans to pull the company's operations out of Hong Kong, says a Financial Times report.

Yoshitaka Kitao, chief executive of SBI, said he is moving because "without freedom, there is no financial business," the report said, adding that 100 employees would be affected by the withdrawal.

The former Hong Kong-listed company is also reviewing London's status as the optimal financial center in Europe.

Singapore and Shanghai are also among the alternatives, the report said.

Kitao said he would rather have an office in Beijing or Shanghai or elsewhere if he wants to do business in China.

Japan's manufacturers, retailers and wholesalers were becoming more inclined to relocate operations from Hong Kong to mainland China, he said.