Standard Chartered cuts more jobs as it axes global equities business
Standard Chartered, the London headquartered bank which focuses on Asia, has announced more job cuts.
The bank said it's closing the unprofitable equity sales and research business. This will lead to 200 job cuts worldwide and deliver around $100m in cost savings by 2016.
Dismantling its stockbroking, equity research and equity listing desks worldwide will make StanChart the first major bank to completely exit the global equity markets.
It also confirmed the loss of an additional 2,000 jobs in the bank's retail division taking the yearly total to 4,000. This division has lost out as part of the bank's drive to focus on more wealthy clients.
Over the last two years the bank has had to battle crumbling commodity prices and slowdowns in key emerging markets. This has compounded problems relating to bad loans and rising regulatory costs.
Today's moves are part of a cost-cutting package which was announced last year to turn its fortunes around. It includes cost saving measures alongside restructuring focused on wealth management over retail banking.
Peter Sands, group chief executive said:
We are on track to deliver at least $400m of cost saves for 2015, and we are now focusing on achieving further cost savings for 2016 and beyond as we continue creating capacity to invest in the Group's core businesses.
Last year StanChart issued three profit warnings and its share shed around 25 per cent. They were up 1.3 per cent to £9.7 in mid-afternoon trade.