Standard Chartered (2888)

The bank - which has been struggling with rising bad loans - will close its stock broking, equity research and equity listing desks around the world, and cut more than 200 jobs, Reuters had reported earlier on Wednesday, quoting an internal memo and unnamed sources.

Sent from my S4 via Tapatalk

What will happen with the equities being custodized by them?

A spokesman for SCB has said that "there will be no impact on the bank's online trading platform and no direct impact on retail clients".

I guess it makes sense to keep the retail part of it. Essentially a risk free business since money has to be coughed up first before an order is executed.

euters
Friday, Jan 09, 2015

HONG KONG - Standard Chartered Chief Executive Peter Sands moved aggressively on Thursday to reverse the Asia-focused bank's fortunes by closing the bulk of its global equities business and axing 4,000 jobs in retail banking.

The lender said it was dismantling its stock broking, equity research and equity listing desks worldwide, becoming one of the first global banks to get out of the equity capital markets business completely. The decision to close the loss-making division will lead to 200 job cuts, almost all in Asia.

In its retail banking division, Standard Chartered said it has announced 2,000 job cuts in the last three months, and plans to axe a further 2,000 this year. The cuts would represent about 5 per cent of the bank's 86,000 employees.

The bank also announced the departure of Chief Risk Officer Richard Goulding and Jan Verplancke, chief information officer. It said both were retiring from the company and would stay until successors were appointed.

Sands, who turned 53 on Thursday and has been CEO for eight years, is coming under increasing pressure after a troubled two years, which abruptly halted a decade of record profits. Some investors said last year he should go, or the bank should at least lay out a clear succession plan.
Standard Chartered offices worldwide

Click on thumbnail to view. Story continues after photos. The Straits Times, Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered Chief Executive Peter Sands moved aggressively on Thursday to reverse the Asia-focused bank's fortunes by closing the bulk of its global equities business and axing 4,000 jobs in retail banking.
The lender said it was dismantling its stock broking, equity research and equity listing desks worldwide, becoming one of the first global banks to get out of the equity capital markets business completely.
The decision to close the loss-making division will lead to 200 job cuts, almost all in Asia.
In its retail banking division, Standard Chartered said it has announced 2,000 job cuts in the last three months, and plans to axe a further 2,000 this year.
The cuts would represent about 5 per cent of the bank's 86,000 employees.
The bank also announced the departure of Chief Risk Officer Richard Goulding and Jan Verplancke, chief information officer. It said both were retiring from the company and would stay until successors were appointed.
Sands, who turned 53 on Thursday and has been CEO for eight years, is coming under increasing pressure after a troubled two years, which abruptly halted a decade of record profits. Some investors said last year he should go, or the bank should at least lay out a clear succession plan.
Falling commodity prices and a slowdown in growth in many of its core emerging markets ate into Standard Chartered's earnings in 2014 and the bank has been hit by a surge in bad loans and rising regulatory costs. It also took a US$175 million(S$234 million) hit from a suspected commodities fraud in China.
Closing the equities businesses, which had revenues of about US$100 million (66 million pounds) a year but were losing money, should save the bank US$100 million a year from 2016.
That will add to a plan announced in October to cut US$400 million in costs this year as Sands tries to reverse a slide in profits that has seen the bank's share price slump more than 40 per cent over the past two years.
Bankers in Standard Chartered's equities division in Hong Kong arrived on Thursday to find they were locked out of the office. Some in Singapore were escorted from their workplaces.
"We came in this morning and were told the equity business was being shut down," a woman who identified herself as an ex-employee at the bank's offices in Singapore told Reuters, saying she had worked in research.

Falling commodity prices and a slowdown in growth in many of its core emerging markets ate into Standard Chartered's earnings in 2014 and the bank has been hit by a surge in bad loans and rising regulatory costs. It also took a US$175 million(S$234 million) hit from a suspected commodities fraud in China.

Closing the equities businesses, which had revenues of about US$100 million (66 million pounds) a year but were losing money, should save the bank US$100 million a year from 2016.

That will add to a plan announced in October to cut US$400 million in costs this year as Sands tries to reverse a slide in profits that has seen the bank's share price slump more than 40 per cent over the past two years.

Bankers in Standard Chartered's equities division in Hong Kong arrived on Thursday to find they were locked out of the office. Some in Singapore were escorted from their workplaces.

"We came in this morning and were told the equity business was being shut down," a woman who identified herself as an ex-employee at the bank's offices in Singapore told Reuters, saying she had worked in research.

Standard Chartered's London shares were up 2.7 per cent at 1311 GMT and its share rose 2.9 per cent in Hong Kong as analysts welcomed signs that Sands is prepared to go further with his strategy overhaul.

Some analysts said more action may be needed to get the bank back on track, however.

"It's a logical step. But laying off staff is not enough to address the situation," said James Antos, a banking analyst at Mizuho Securities Asia in Hong Kong.

SENIOR CHANGES

London-based Standard Chartered issued three profit warnings last year and two months ago rating agency Standard & Poor's hit it with its first ever downgrade, adding to pressure on Sands for a more far-reaching overhaul.

The bank's biggest shareholders include Singapore state investor Temasek and asset managers Aberdeen Asset Management and BlackRock.

The exits of Goulding, 55, and Verplancke, 51, come on top of several senior departures last year. Goulding has been chief risk officer for eight years, based in London, and Verplancke has been chief information officer and head of technology and operations for a decade, based in Singapore.

The bank also said its corporate development and strategy functions will now report directly to Finance Director Andy Halford, rather than Sands. The bank said that had been the plan since Halford joined last year.

Retail banking, where Standard Chartered has more than 10 million customers in 34 countries, is a major target in its cost-cutting drive and the bank plans to focus more on its 1.6 million wealthy retail customers and 400,000 business clients.

Other global banks such as HSBC and Citigroup have been making cuts to their retail banking businesses in recent years, exiting inefficient markets and trying to focus more on online services rather than bricks-and-mortar branches.

Standard Chartered launched its equities business in November 2008 when it acquired brokerage Cazenove from JPMorgan . Its retreat follows moves by rivals including UBS and Barclays to cut back in areas of investment banking where they are unprofitable or lack size.

Standard Chartered had been hiring staff in the division, which involves underwriting stock offerings for companies, as recently as October. The decision to get out of the business comes despite a boom in equity underwriting in Asia that saw fees for the industry rise 74 per cent in 2014.

Standard Chartered failed to rank among the top 10 banks globally for research or trading at the end of 2013, according to a survey by Greenwich Associates, and ranked 23rd last year in equity underwriting in Asia Pacific, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Equity capital markets head A Rajagopal, previously a banker with UBS India, had been leading that business since 2012, trying to build a presence in a division that was not traditionally a strong suit for Standard Chartered.

"Management is continuing with their rationalization process and no unprofitable sacred cows have been left untouched," said Christopher Wong, a senior investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management Asia.

Standard Chartered said it would retain its equity derivatives business as well as its convertible bond and macro economic research units.

The CEO, has acted too slow, and too late to please the major shareholders...

Temasek, Aberdeen said to be putting pressure on Standard Chartered CEO to quit

LONDON (Jan 25): Standard Chartered's two largest investors have told the bank's chairman to find a replacement for Chief Executive Peter Sands within months, the Sunday Telegraph reported, without citing its sources.

The newspaper said Temasek Holdings and Aberdeen Asset Management , which between them own nearly a third of the bank's shares, had separately made it known to John Peace in the last few weeks that a succession plan for Sands must be put in place so he can leave by the end of the year.

Sands, who has been CEO of the Asia-focused bank since 2006, has come under increasing pressure after a troubled two years in which falling commodity prices and a slowdown in growth in many of its core emerging markets have contributed to an abrupt halt to a decade of record profits.
...
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/sg/article...d-ceo-quit

The outgoing CEO and ex Regional CEO & executive director are offloading the shares in the open market...

http://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listcone...508466.pdf

Jelek... maybe DBS can now buy it on the cheap...

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/05/standard-...pital.html

Standard Chartered halves dividend, new CEO says could raise capital
3 Hours Ago
Reuters


Standard Chartered halved its dividend and said it would raise capital from investors if needed, as new chief Executive Bill Winters outlined his thoughts on reviving a bank hit by a 44 percent slump in first-half profit.

Shares in the Asia-focused lender rose 4.5 percent to 994.9 pence on Wednesday as investors welcomed Winters' move to set a target to double return on equity to a minimum of 10 percent.

That helped offset disappointment over the cut to the dividend for the first half of the year to 14.4 cents a share from 28.8 cents a year ago. The bank said it had "rebased" the payout to reflect its "current earnings expectation and outlook".

As a result of the cut, StanChart said its common tier 1 equity position, a key measure of capital strength, had risen 80 basis points to 11.5 percent, six months ahead of target.

Winters, who became CEO in June, did not rule out raising capital in future. "If we decide we need capital for the long-term benefit of the group, we will raise capital," he said.


Billy H.C. Kwok | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The bank said its pretax profit in the first six months of the year fell to $1.82 billion, down 44 percent from a year ago.

StanChart has suffered a troubled three years, hurt by problems including fines from U.S. regulators for misconduct, strained relations with top shareholders, plunging commodities prices and a weakened trading environment.

On his first day in charge, Winters told investors the bank needed to strengthen its finances and simplify operations to increase shareholder returns.

The lender has struggled to shake off concerns it will need to raise additional capital to bolster its balance sheet, especially if Asian economies that have traditionally served as the biggest drivers for its revenue growth continue to falter.

The lender is aiming for cost savings of $1.8 billion by the end of 2018.

Some analysts have said Winters needs to raise at least $5 billion from a rights issue and a dividend cut to strengthen the balance sheet and generate cash to grow lending and kick-start revenue growth.

Winters has already shaken up the bank's management structure, streamlining its eight geographical regions into four units that will report directly to him.

Standard Chartered faces new Iran fines

• SIMON DUKE
  
• THE AUSTRALIAN
  
• SEPTEMBER 07, 2015 12:00AM
  

[Image: 295309-d2559198-5440-11e5-9108-e3723a561ad5.jpg]
Three years ago Standard Chartered paid $US667 million ($953m) in penalties to US watchdogs after admitting deliberately disguising transactions that could have broken US sanctions against Iran. Source: Supplied
[b]Standard Chartered is facing further heavy fines and possible criminal prosecutions over alleged breaches of US sanctions against Iran.[/b]
The bank is under investigation by the Department of Justice over allegations it violated the terms of a 2012 settlement.
Three years ago it paid $US667 million ($953m) in penalties to US watchdogs after admitting deliberately disguising transactions that could have broken US sanctions against Iran and other states. Under a deferred prosecution agreement signed at the time, the bank said it had ceased trading with Iranian clients in 2007.
But last year Standard Chartered paid a $US300m fine to a New York financial regulator after its anti-money-laundering systems were found to have been inadequate. In December the DPA was extended for a further three years, and the DoJ is now investigating whether sanctions were broken after 2007.
Last month the bank warned it may be on the hook for new “substantial monetary penalties” from the DoJ investigation.
The prospect of further heavy fines would further destabilise the London-listed bank, whose market value has tumbled 40 per cent over the past year.
New chief executive Bill Winters is considering tapping investors for billions in fresh capital to strengthen its finances, amid fears of a spike in losses on soured loans. He has vowed to demolish the “legacy” of his predecessor, Peter Sands, which he claimed favoured “growth over risk discipline”.
The bank’s office in Dubai was a key part of its expansion plans after the 2008 financial meltdown. The DoJ is probing allegations it employed a team of fluent Farsi speakers in the emirate between 2009 and 2011.
The bankers were allegedly tasked with drumming up business with Iranian clients. This would have been lucrative work because of the US embargo on the country.
An unnamed British lender was last year cited in legal filings related to a record $US9 billion fine for the French bank BNP Paribas over sanctions violations. The British bank had acted with BNP to conduct foreign exchange deals for an Iranian company until December 2011, when the British lender put a stop to the trades, according to the filings. Standard Chartered said it was “co-operating fully with US authorities”. “The group has taken a number of steps to comply with the requirements of the original agreements,” it said.
These include implementing “more rigorous US sanctions policies”, improving staff training and beefing up its legal and financial crime compliance teams.
It said it would “make additional substantial improvements to its US sanctions program to reach the standard required by the DPAs”.
The Sunday Times

Stanchart to exit equity derivatives, convertible bonds


http://www.straitstimes.com/business/ban...ible-bonds#]
Businesses to be phased out by end of Q1 next year as bank tries to reverse 2-year profit slide
HONG KONG • Standard Chartered said it was closing its equity derivatives and convertible bonds businesses as chief executive officer Bill Winters tries to turn around the lender's performance.
The bank will phase out the businesses, exiting from institutional cash equities, equity research and equity capital markets, it said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
At least 10 jobs will go, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the details are private.

Quote:Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters is trying to reverse a two-year profit slide at the bank. Shares of Stanchart, which generates most of its revenue in Asia, have fallen 24 per cent in Hong Kong this year after commodity prices slumped and China's economy cooled.

"With effect from today, we have commenced the wind-down of the equity derivatives and convertible bonds businesses in a phased manner," a spokesman said via e-mail. "We anticipate that most of the process will be completed by the end of the first quarter next year."
Mr Winters is trying to reverse a two-year profit slide at the emerging market-focused lender.
Standard Chartered, which generates most of its revenue in Asia, has seen its stock price fall 24 per cent in Hong Kong this year after commodity prices slumped and China's economy cooled.
"Regulators are pretty negative about commercial banks' trading activities, so this move probably helps improve capital ratios, reduces earnings volatility and cuts staff, so costs," Mr Jim Antos, an analyst at Mizuho Securities Asia in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg. "They are going back to basic banking."
Standard Chartered will continue to offer equity financing advice for corporate and institutional clients and will still offer securities trading for retail and private banking clients, a spokesman said by e-mail.
Getting out of equity derivatives and convertible bonds, businesses run mainly out of Hong Kong, is part of efforts to position the bank for growth and to "kick-start performance", the lender said in the statement. The bank remains "fully committed to Hong Kong", it said.
"We are taking action to position the bank for growth and driving a step change in performance," the spokesman said.
Global investment banks such as Goldman Sachs Group and Citigroup saw increases in their derivatives sales and trading income in Asia during the first half of this year. But the business is expected to fall off in the second half of the year due to the drop in China's stock market.
Sales of equity-linked securities in Japan and South Korea fell to a one-year low in September.
Since taking over in June, Mr Winters, 54, has eliminated 1,000 senior positions and cut the bank's dividend in half to save about US$1 billion (S$1.4 billion). Some analysts have forecast that a capital gap of between US$4 billion and US$10 billion will be revealed when the Bank of England releases its second round of stress tests on Dec 1.
Standard Chartered's board will meet as early as next month to discuss whether the bank needs to raise capital as it struggles under rising bad loans and an economic slowdown in Asia, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
BLOOMBERG

(27-10-2015, 07:13 AM)greengiraffe Wrote: Stanchart to exit equity derivatives, convertible bonds


  [url=http://www.straitstimes.com/business/banking/stanchart-to-exit-equity-derivatives-convertible-bonds#][/url]
Businesses to be phased out by end of Q1 next year as bank tries to reverse 2-year profit slide
HONG KONG • Standard Chartered said it was closing its equity derivatives and convertible bonds businesses as chief executive officer Bill Winters tries to turn around the lender's performance.
The bank will phase out the businesses, exiting from institutional cash equities, equity research and equity capital markets, it said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
At least 10 jobs will go, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the details are private.

Quote:Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters is trying to reverse a two-year profit slide at the bank. Shares of Stanchart, which generates most of its revenue in Asia, have fallen 24 per cent in Hong Kong this year after commodity prices slumped and China's economy cooled.

"With effect from today, we have commenced the wind-down of the equity derivatives and convertible bonds businesses in a phased manner," a spokesman said via e-mail. "We anticipate that most of the process will be completed by the end of the first quarter next year."
Mr Winters is trying to reverse a two-year profit slide at the emerging market-focused lender.
Standard Chartered, which generates most of its revenue in Asia, has seen its stock price fall 24 per cent in Hong Kong this year after commodity prices slumped and China's economy cooled.
"Regulators are pretty negative about commercial banks' trading activities, so this move probably helps improve capital ratios, reduces earnings volatility and cuts staff, so costs," Mr Jim Antos, an analyst at Mizuho Securities Asia in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg. "They are going back to basic banking."
Standard Chartered will continue to offer equity financing advice for corporate and institutional clients and will still offer securities trading for retail and private banking clients, a spokesman said by e-mail.
Getting out of equity derivatives and convertible bonds, businesses run mainly out of Hong Kong, is part of efforts to position the bank for growth and to "kick-start performance", the lender said in the statement. The bank remains "fully committed to Hong Kong", it said.
"We are taking action to position the bank for growth and driving a step change in performance," the spokesman said.
Global investment banks such as Goldman Sachs Group and Citigroup saw increases in their derivatives sales and trading income in Asia during the first half of this year. But the business is expected to fall off in the second half of the year due to the drop in China's stock market.
Sales of equity-linked securities in Japan and South Korea fell to a one-year low in September.
Since taking over in June, Mr Winters, 54, has eliminated 1,000 senior positions and cut the bank's dividend in half to save about US$1 billion (S$1.4 billion). Some analysts have forecast that a capital gap of between US$4 billion and US$10 billion will be revealed when the Bank of England releases its second round of stress tests on Dec 1.
Standard Chartered's board will meet as early as next month to discuss whether the bank needs to raise capital as it struggles under rising bad loans and an economic slowdown in Asia, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
BLOOMBERG

Does anyone know what is the stock code for this 2888 in SCB online?

tried 2888.hk , 2888, 02888 ..all failed..

Is there are withholding tax for its dividends, does anyone know?

Thanks!