Singapore-based Maybank Kim Eng Holdings Ltd. trimmed 5% of its workforce as part of a restructuring of its retail brokerage operations, The Business Times reported, citing an internal memo.

The job cuts were announced Dec. 6 after the company carried out a review that also affected its regional institutional sales and research, and Hong Kong investment banking and advisory businesses. Maybank Kim Eng employed about 600 people in Singapore, of which some 30 positions were cut, according to the Dec. 10 report. Sources told the outlet that the cuts did not affect commissioned agents.

A company spokesperson told the newspaper that the restructuring was prompted by changes in the investment banking sector from shifting customer preferences, increasing automation of brokerage offerings and changes in the regulatory environment.

Maybank Kim Eng is a unit of Malaysia's Malayan Banking Bhd.