Middle East staff spared job cuts at Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered makes job cuts worldwide, but the company's headcount in the Middle East has remained "virtually flat", a spokesman said.

Standard Chartered staff in the Middle East escaped job cuts in the past three months as mounting costs ate into income at the London banking giant.

More Business news: Editor's pick of today's headlines

Last Updated: May 05, 2011

Aabar takes $1bn stake in Glencore flotation Abu Dhabi's investment vehicle, Aabar, has become the largest participant in the initial public offering of commodities giant Glencore. Read article

Right time for Aabar's move Glencore's flotation is an ambitious move by the Swiss commodities trading giant to flex its muscles further and tap into booming commodities prices. Read article

Cashing in on bin Laden's death Retailers and analysts in the UAE are expecting high demand for new books, films and video games about bin Laden. Read article

Hedge funds regain their status - and $2tn Industry Insights // Louis Gargour, the founder of LNG Capital, a fixed-income firm specialising in European credit, talks about his approach to investing and his view of the markets - with video. Read article

Property sales up and down Dubai estate agents are disputing data showing a 50 per cent decline in home sales in the first quarter. Read article

In its interim management statement, the bank cited negative "cost income jaws", meaning its expenses increased at a faster rate than its income. The bank declined to provide a detailed breakdown of its profits.

"We are maintaining a firm grip on expenses, with headcount levels at the end of the first quarter slightly below the level seen at the end of 2010," said Peter Sands, the Standard Chartered Group chief executive. "Expenses are broadly in line with the run rate seen in the second half of 2010."

However, the Middle East largely escaped job cuts at the bank, said a spokesman, who added it was "virtually flat on headcount for the region versus the end of last year".

The spokesman said no redundancies were planned in the Middle East region.

International banks have recently cut costs aggressively in the face of competition from local banks.

Royal Bank of Scotland sold its retail banking business in the UAE to Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank last year, while HSBC recently announced hundreds of layoffs across the Middle East.

Standard Chartered employs more than 3,000 staff in the Middle East and North Africa region, more than 2,400 of whom are based in the UAE. The Middle East and South Asia accounted for US$2.16 billion (Dh7.93bn) of the bank's operating income last year, a 4 per cent increase on 2009, according to the bank's annual report, released at the end of March.

Staff costs for its 85,231 employees worldwide accounted for $5.76bn last year, a 17.3 per cent increase on 2009.

Of that figure, total compensation for the bank's five highest earners accounted for $41.7 million.