British supermarket Sainsbury's said on Thursday it would close its core banking business following a review of its financial services offering, and would instead switch to a distributed model.

"Over time this will result in a phased withdrawal from our core Banking business," the company said in a statement.

It added that Jim Brown will retire from his role as CEO of Sainsbury's Bank, and Robert Mulhall had been named to replace him.

 

(Reporting by Sarah Young, Editing by Paul Sandle)