SINGAPORE: After it was reported that Standard Chartered would remove around 20 jobs in Singapore and London as the firm revamps its mergers and acquisitions team, one report says that Singaporeans in junior roles will be affected the most.
Bankers in junior roles from Standard Chartered quoted in efinancialcareers.com said that the job cuts, which number around “a couple of dozen”, appeared to involve bankers at junior and mid-level positions and not managing directors.
“Singapore is the worst affected place. Surprisingly, managing directors are comparatively unaffected, even though they say this is about costs,” one junior banker was quoted as saying.
The job cuts, which began last Friday (Aug 9), come as the lender undergoes a restructuring of its mergers and acquisitions team through absorbing bankers who focus on industry coverage, Bloomberg reported on Monday (Aug 12).
“Our corporate and investment banking clients are increasingly asking us to support them on advisory work alongside cross-border risk management and financing.
We are expanding our M&A capabilities, focusing on target sectors, and taking a forensic approach to drive greater efficiency in the business,” Standard Chartered said in an emailed statement.
The move, which aims to reduce overlaps and offer more mergers and acquisitions capability, is overseen by Tom Willett, the bank’s global head of M&A.
Reuters reported that the move will result in the size of the M&A team doubling to over 100 bankers and will allow Standard Chartered to concentrate on its significant cross-border clients.
An Aug 8 memo concerning the cuts written by Mr Willet has been confirmed by a representative of Standard Chartered. The exact number of jobs affected, however, has not been disclosed.
Earlier this year, Standard Chartered saw a round of corporate and investment banking coverage changes, with Roberto Hoornweg and Sunil Kaushal appointed co-heads of corporate and investment banking.
The reorganization was made public on March 12 to improve the bank’s accountability for its investment banking performance and priorities.
Standard Chartered said at the time that it concentrated on growing revenues from sources aside from direct financing and zeroed in on sectors it identified for growth.
While the bank’s combined capital markets and advisory revenues had gone up 14 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2024, this growth seems to have been because of capital markets rather than M&A advisory, efinancialcareers.com pointed out. /TISG
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