By Eliane Portillo

Barclays wealth management arm has closed its office in Buenos Aires, for strategic reasons and will serve Latin American clients from the US and Europe, the UK bank said in a statement.

Barclays Wealth is aligning how we serve clients in all Latin American countries, the statement reads.

The move does not imply that Barclays is retreating from the Latin American wealth management business, a bank spokesperson told.

The Buenos Aires branch Barclays Sudamerica was Barclays' only wealth management office in Latin America.

Barclays Wealth had total client assets of 170bn pounds (US$272bn) as of June 30, with offices in more than 20 countries.