Latest news with #StanChart
The Star
3 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Standard Chartered cuts jobs in Singapore; moves them to India: Finance jobs portal
The bank had previously cut about 100 jobs across its Singapore, London and Hong Kong hubs in November 2024. - ST SINGAPORE: Dozens of staff at Standard Chartered have reportedly been laid off in Singapore in a fresh round of job cuts by the London-based bank. The move affected about 80 Singapore-based employees – understood to be from the bank's technology and operations teams – with their jobs being offshored to India, according to finance jobs portal efinancialcareers. In a website article published on June 12, the global financial services company noted that 'sources at the bank in Singapore said the 80 jobs currently being offshored to India are likely only the start'. 'Singapore remains a critical centre for their global businesses and technology and operations teams,' a StanChart spokesman said when contacted by ST, without providing details such as whether the job cuts are part of the bank's plan to save costs in a bid to return capital to shareholders. 'We continually look to enhance our operations to serve our clients better. As a global firm, we maintain a dynamic blend of world-class local talent in our key markets, including Singapore, and leverage the multi-disciplinary expertise housed in our global business service hubs,' he added. The bank, which makes most of its money in Asia and the Middle East, is in the midst of a corporate cost-saving programme called 'Fit for Growth' as it aims to return US$1.5 billion (S$2 billion) more to shareholders. It reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat estimates in February 2025. The bank had previously cut about 100 jobs across its Singapore, London and Hong Kong hubs in November 2024. This was part of the Asia-focused lender's plan to cut costs by more than US$1 billion (S$1.35 billion) through 2024. StanChart's head office in Singapore is at Marina Bay Financial Centre, with a network of 11 branches and over 30 ATMs islandwide. A check on StanChart's job openings on its website showed that the bank is still hiring for over 60 Singapore-based roles in areas ranging from operations to marketing and business development. Tech positions, such as infrastructure engineers and those related to digital products, are still open. The job cuts follow other global banks that have made reductions to their workforce, including DBS, which had communicated its intention to reduce its contract and temporary staff by around 4,000 over the next three years as artificial intelligence increasingly takes on roles carried out by humans. Meanwhile, HSBC had also announced a restructuring process in October 2024 that was expected to lead to job cuts, mainly involving those in senior roles to reduce duplication. HSBC Singapore was not able to comment on the number and type of senior management roles it has here, then. The financial sector's contribution to Singapore's gross domestic product has grown from 12.5 per cent in 2018 to 13.8 per cent in 2024, with a workforce of close to 200,000 here. - The Straits Times/ANN
Business Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Times
Standard Chartered cuts jobs in Singapore; moves them to India: Finance jobs portal
[SINGAPORE] Dozens of staff at Standard Chartered have reportedly been laid off in Singapore in a fresh round of job cuts by the London-based bank. The move affected about 80 Singapore-based employees – understood to be from the bank's technology and operations teams – with their jobs being offshored to India, according to finance jobs portal efinancialcareers. In a website article published on Jun 12, the global financial services company noted that 'sources at the bank in Singapore said the 80 jobs currently being offshored to India are likely only the start'. 'Singapore remains a critical centre for their global businesses and technology and operations teams,' a StanChart spokesman said when contacted by ST, without providing details such as whether the job cuts are part of the bank's plan to save costs in a bid to return capital to shareholders. 'We continually look to enhance our operations to serve our clients better. As a global firm, we maintain a dynamic blend of world-class local talent in our key markets, including Singapore, and leverage the multi-disciplinary expertise housed in our global business service hubs,' he added. The bank, which makes most of its money in Asia and the Middle East, is in the midst of a corporate cost-saving programme called 'Fit for Growth' as it aims to return US$1.5 billion more to shareholders. It reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat estimates in February 2025. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up The bank had previously cut about 100 jobs across its Singapore, London and Hong Kong hubs in November 2024. This was part of the Asia-focused lender's plan to cut costs by more than US$1 billion through 2024. StanChart's head office in Singapore is at Marina Bay Financial Centre, with a network of 11 branches and over 30 ATMs islandwide. A check on StanChart's job openings on its website showed that the bank is still hiring for over 60 Singapore-based roles in areas ranging from operations to marketing and business development. Tech positions, such as infrastructure engineers and those related to digital products, are still open. The job cuts follow other global banks that have made reductions to their workforce, including DBS, which had communicated its intention to reduce its contract and temporary staff by around 4,000 over the next three years as artificial intelligence increasingly takes on roles carried out by humans. Meanwhile, HSBC had also announced a restructuring process in October 2024 that was expected to lead to job cuts, mainly involving those in senior roles to reduce duplication. HSBC Singapore was not able to comment on the number and type of senior management roles it has here, then. The financial sector's contribution to Singapore's gross domestic product has grown from 12.5 per cent in 2018 to 13.8 per cent in 2024, with a workforce of close to 200,000 here. THE STRAITS TIMES
Straits Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Standard Chartered cuts jobs in Singapore; moves them to India: Finance jobs portal
The bank had previously cut about 100 jobs across its Singapore, London and Hong Kong hubs in November 2024. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG SINGAPORE - Dozens of staff at Standard Chartered have reportedly been laid off in Singapore in a fresh round of job cuts by the London-based bank. The move affected about 80 Singapore-based employees – understood to be from the bank's technology and operations teams – with their jobs being offshored to India, according to finance jobs portal efinancialcareers. In a website article published on June 12, the global financial services company noted that 'sources at the bank in Singapore said the 80 jobs currently being offshored to India are likely only the start'. 'Singapore remains a critical centre for their global businesses and technology and operations teams,' a StanChart spokesman said when contacted by ST, without providing details such as whether the job cuts are part of the bank's plan to save costs in a bid to return capital to shareholders. 'We continually look to enhance our operations to serve our clients better. As a global firm, we maintain a dynamic blend of world-class local talent in our key markets, including Singapore, and leverage the multi-disciplinary expertise housed in our global business service hubs,' he added. The bank, which makes most of its money in Asia and the Middle East, is in the midst of a corporate cost-saving programme called 'Fit for Growth' as it aims to return US$1.5 billion (S$2 billion) more to shareholders. It reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat estimates in February 2025. The bank had previously cut about 100 jobs across its Singapore, London and Hong Kong hubs in November 2024. This was part of the Asia-focused lender's plan to cut costs by more than US$1 billion (S$1.35 billion) through 2024. StanChart's head office in Singapore is at Marina Bay Financial Centre, with a network of 11 branches and over 30 ATMs islandwide. A check on StanChart's job openings on its website showed that the bank is still hiring for over 60 Singapore-based roles in areas ranging from operations to marketing and business development. Tech positions, such as infrastructure engineers and those related to digital products, are still open. The job cuts follow other global banks that have made reductions to their workforce, including DBS, which had communicated its intention to reduce its contract and temporary staff by around 4,000 over the next three years as artificial intelligence increasingly takes on roles carried out by humans. Meanwhile, HSBC had also announced a restructuring process in October 2024 that was expected to lead to job cuts, mainly involving those in senior roles to reduce duplication. HSBC Singapore was not able to comment on the number and type of senior management roles it has here, then. The financial sector's contribution to Singapore's gross domestic product has grown from 12.5 per cent in 2018 to 13.8 per cent in 2024, with a workforce of close to 200,000 here. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Business Times
05-06-2025
- Business
- Business Times
StanChart brings maximum interest rate on savings account to record 8.05%
[SINGAPORE] While local banks are dropping their interest rates on savings accounts, Standard Chartered Bank (StanChart) has raised its rates to an all-time high. Its revised interest rates, which took effect on Jun 1, is a two percentage point increase to 8.05 per cent, from 6.05 per cent previously. This is the highest rate available in the industry for comparable savings accounts. Conversely, local banks such as UOB and OCBC trimmed the interest rates on their respective savings accounts last month to align with 'long-term interest rate environment expectations'. Bonus$aver, StanChart's flagship deposit account, features a tiered interest rate structure, rewarding clients who deepen their engagement with the bank through activities such as salary crediting, card spend, insurance and investment. A new enhancement to the investment category will allow equity trades of at least S$20,000 through its online trading service, SC Online Trading, to qualify for interest alongside unit trust purchases. Account holders will still have to fulfil several criteria to earn the bonus interest rates – including crediting a minimum monthly salary of S$3,000 and spending a minimum of S$1,000 on eligible credit and debit cards. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up With the new rates, account holders who meet the criteria are now able to earn a bonus interest rate of 1.5 per cent each year, up from 1 per cent, for card spend and salary credit. They will also have to be insured and investing with the bank, where they can enjoy interest rates of up to 2.5 per cent. While its base interest rate of 0.05 per cent remains unchanged, interest rates across all other engagement pillars were raised to provide 'additional value to clients'. With all conditions met, clients are able to earn the maximum interest rate of 8.05 per cent on the first average daily balance of S$100,000. 'By integrating banking with wealth solutions, we're offering clients a smarter way to grow their savings while deepening their relationship with the bank,' said Usman Khalid, global and Singapore head for deposits, mortgages and payments at StanChart. The inclusion comes with the bank's effort to recognise the growing interest in stock trading. The lender said that new client acquisition jumped 50 per cent in 2024. Its online trading platform also saw a rise of more than 65 per cent in trading volumes last year. For the first time, the bank is also offering shares tied with new clients opening a deposit account from now till Jun 30. Besides opening the account, they would also have to apply for a Bonus$aver World Mastercard credit card with a deposit of minimally S$50,000 in fresh funds. These new clients will then receive 50 units of SPDR Straits Times Index ETF, which is the first locally created exchange-traded fund. 'The Bonusaver headline rate matches the overall relationship value clients have with Standard Chartered, covering daily banking as well as wealth solutions,' said Khalid. 'While we continuously monitor macro trends, this holistic approach allows us to sustainably offer such a proposition, rewarding clients who choose us as their primary banking partner.'
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
StanChart: OPEC+ Is About To Become Much More Transparent
A week ago, the 39th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting was held via videoconference, chaired by Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Energy. According to a press release, the group pledged to 'develop a mechanism to assess the maximum sustainable production capacity (MSC) of member countries that will be used as reference for 2027 production baselines'. Whereas the long-term nature of the undertaking elicited little response from oil markets, commodity analysts at Standard Chartered have noted that this is a highly significant development. According to StanChart, establishing MSCs is likely to involve a series of data-related tasks over the next year, a task that's unlikely to prove too difficult. Indeed, the ongoing unwinding of voluntary cuts suggests that the market has tended to overestimate sustainable capacity of some producers and has, therefore, frequently overestimated spare capacity. StanChart says setting MSC levels will improve the visibility and transparency of member countries, making it much harder for some OPEC+ members to obfuscate the degree of their non-compliance with their pledges by creating opaque data flows and vague (or shifting) definitions. This move will give more accurate production data thus reducing oil price second key OPEC+ decision came on 31 May, with Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman agreeing to continue the accelerated unwinding of the 2023 production cuts by 411kb/d in July 2025. July's accelerated clip was similar to that for the previous two months. Previous media reports had warned that the group might decide to unwind more than 411kb/d if the worst overproducers (Kazakhstan and Iraq) continued to defy calls to stick to their quotas. However, an Algerian government press release revealed that no such discussion took place. And now StanChart says that oil markets are likely to remain relatively well balanced for the remainder of the year--if OPEC+ sticks to its current trajectory. According to the analysts, current balances imply a global stock draw of 0.4 mb/d in the third quarter, which will be offset by a 0.4 mb/d inventory build in the final quarter of the year. Contributing to the balance will be the continuation of significant non-OPEC+ supply underperformance relative to consensus expectations in 2025, coupled with relatively robust demand growth which is expected to clock in at 1.17 mb/d in 2025 and 1.07 mb/d in 2026. Meanwhile, current low prices are likely to create some additional potential demand upside. Looking at natural gas markets, the ongoing seasonal build in EU gas inventories accelerated sharply over the past week. According to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) data, EU gas inventories clocked in at 56.79 billion cubic metres (bcm) on 1 June, good for a w/w build of 3.057 bcm. This marked the first time the w/w net injection exceeded 3 bcm since August 2022, with last week's build nearly 50% above the previous week's mark and 24% higher than the five-year average. The faster-than-average build has trimmed the y/y deficit to 24.44 bcm, lower than the 30.07 bcm deficit reached in mid-April. Natural gas prices have failed to sustain the momentum they built in the first three weeks of May: Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) gas for July delivery settled at EUR 35.015 per megawatt hour (MWh) on 2 June, good for a w/w fall of EUR 2.354/MWh. Europe's gas prices have underperformed other energy prices in the year-to-date, by a significant margin. The latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) weekly release was bullish, with the deficit in combined crude oil and oil product inventories relative to the five-year average widening by 7.04 mb w/w to 47.76 mb--the largest since December 2022. Crude oil inventories fell 2.8 mb w/w to 440.36 mb, with inventories now 30.22mb below the five-year average. Meanwhile, U.S. crude exports fell 794 kb/d w/w, tempered by a counter-seasonal 162 kb/d fall in crude oil refinery runs as well as a 262 kb/d increase in imports. However, demand indicators for the month of May were weak, with gasoline demand down 4.8% y/y, jet fuel demand down 0.4% and distillate demand down 1.4%. The U.S. oil rig count declined by four w/w to a 42-month low of 461, marking a fifth consecutive weekly decline according to the latest Baker-Hughes survey. The Permian Basin rig count fell by one to a 42-month low of 278; the Midland Basin rig count fell by one to 98, Delaware Basin activity remained unchanged at 157 rigs, and other Permian drilling was unchanged at 23 rigs. In contrast, the U.S. gas rig count climbed by a single rig w/w to 99. By Alex Kimani for More Top Reads From this article on Sign in to access your portfolio
