Standard Chartered looks at restructuring investment bank to boost returns
Standard Chartered is reportedly weighing a restructuring of its investment banking arm in a bid to cut costs and boost returns.
The emerging markets-focused lender is considering is a break-up of the bank’s investment and corporate banking businesses, Bloomberg News reported, with the firm yet to land on a final decision.
The move, which is understood to be one of several options, could see job losses.
Peers Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have recently chosen to eliminate thousands of roles to improve returns.
City PM approached Standard Chartered for comment.
Chief executive Bill Winters has spent much of his eight-year tenure derisking the bank’s balance sheet after it took on billions in bad loans following the financial crisis.
He is under pressure to boost the bank’s struggling share price, with the stock falling more than 20 per cent over the last year.
The firm, which has a primary listing in London and secondary listings in Hong Kong and India, has recently been hit by losses tied to China’s commercial real estate crisis.
Meanwhile, Asia-focused rival HSBC’s shares have made a slight gain of two per cent in the last 12 months, with the bank seeing bumper profits on the back of higher interest rates.
Standard Chartered plans to reduce costs by more than $1bn (£800m) through 2024 and raise its return on tangible equity above 11 per cent by the end of the year.