Standard Chartered Shuts Equities Business; Axes Jobs
9 January 2015 10:50 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Hong Kong – Standard Chartered Bank said it would shut all of its equity businesses worldwide for efficiency reasons due to escalating lending figures.
The Asia-focused lender's London headquarters said on Tuesday that the move would help the company save costs by more than US$ 400 million, something it deems necessary amid declining business. In the last two years, the bank made minimum profits, with three profit warnings issued last year. In October 2014, Standard Chartered's operating profit dropped 16 percent over soaring bad loans and the restructuring of its business in the South Korea representative office.
Standard Chartered spokeswoman Valerie Tay said the equity business closures will force the lender to fire 200 employees worldwide. "Especially those working in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, India, and Singapore," she said in Singapore yesterday as reported by the BBC News.
According to Tay, the move would help the company save some US$100m in 2016. While job cuts would allow the bank to save up to US$ 200 million this year.
Two months ago, Standard & Poor's downgraded Standard Chartered's rating from A+ to A with a negative outlook, the first in the last 20 years. The downgrade was based on the lender's declining profits and increasing bad loans.
REUTERS | BBC NEWS | SETIAWAN ADIWIJAYA
