New | Standard Chartered targets wealthier customers in retail bank shake-up
Bank aims at reducing costs in shake-up that will axe up to 4,000 jobs and 100 branches
Standard Chartered will shift its retail bank's focus from mass market to affluent customers and urge more clients to go online as part of a broader restructuring, a senior executive said.
Standard Chartered's retail business is one of the first divisions the Asia-focused lender has targeted with cuts, announcing last month it would axe 4,000 jobs or 5 per cent of its global workforce and close 80 to 100 branches.
The moves come as chief executive Peter Sands is under increasing pressure to revive the bank's fortunes after a troubled two years, which abruptly halted a decade of record profits.
Key to fixing the retail division would be stripping out costs, said Karen Fawcett, the global head of the bank's retail clients unit.
Fawcett wants to reduce the division's cost-income ratio to 65 per cent from 67 per cent by the end of the year, and ultimately to 55 per cent.
"We have a fantastic business with 10 million clients in 34 countries … but the problem is high costs," she said.
One key initiative would be the launch of an iPad-based platform for recruiting new clients in 10 markets this year and another 10 markets next year, she said.