Standard Chartered job cull
January 8, 2015
Standard Chartered's management announced an aggressive move Thursday aimed at reversing the lender's fortunes by closing the bulk of its global equities business.
CEO Peter Sands announced the company would cut another 2,000 job in its retail banking segment. This comes in addition to the same amount of jobs already slashed or in the process of being cut.
He said the move was part of a cost-cutting plan to enable the lender to save $400 million (337 million euros) this year as it tried to bounce back after a 40-percent slump in shares over the past two years.
Profitability in focus
We are continuing to take significant action on costs by exiting or reconfiguring non-core and underperforming businesses," Sands assured shareholders."
Falling commodity prices and a slowdown in growth in many emerging markets ate into Standard Chartered's earnings in 2014, leaving it with huge amounts of bad loans and rising regulatory costs.
In August, US regulators hit the bank with a $300-million fine and restriction on its dollar-clearing business for failing to detect possible money laundering.
hg/pad (AFP, Reuters)