Standard Chartered said it had no immediate plans to cut jobs in the UAE after announcing that it would lose another 2,000 staff worldwide.
The bank on Thursday announced that it would end its institutional cash equities, equity research and equity capital markets activities as part of a series of cuts, announced in November, designed to save US$400 million this year.
The bank also said that it expected to cut 2,000 jobs across its global retail operations, after having cut 2,000 jobs in the final quarter of last year.
“We are continuing to take significant action on costs by exiting or reconfiguring non-core and underperforming businesses and by increasing the efficiency of our core businesses,” said Standard Chartered’s group chief executive Peter Sands. “We are well on track to deliver at least $400m of cost saves for 2015, and we are now focusing on achieving further cost savings for 2016 and beyond.”
A Dubai-based spokesman for Standard Chartered said that the bank had no equities team members based in the UAE and that its retail banking in the country would not be affected.
“This is a group decision that will have no impact on operations on the UAE,” he said, asking not to be named.
Standard Chartered announced in August that it would close the majority of its SME accounts in the UAE, prompted by higher compliance burdens and a squeeze on profitability due to intensifying competition with local banks. The closures were completed in November.
Other sales and closures last year included Standard Chartered’s retail banking operations in Lebanon; its consumer finance businesses in China, Hong Kong, Germany and Korea; and the sale of non-core investments including Travelex and Fleming Family & Partners.
jeverington@thenational.ae
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