By Devon Maylie
JOHANNESBURG--Standard Bank Group Ltd. (SBK.JO) plans to cut up
to 15% of its staff in London as it continues to scale back
international operations, it said Friday.
The bank said the cost-cutting was due to the "challenging
global economic climate."
"At this stage, in London we envisage that this will potentially
eliminate between 10% and 15% of Standard Bank's approximately 900
permanent roles," said Jenny Knott, Chief Executive of Standard
Bank.
Standard Bank has already been cutting back its operations
outside Africa. The South Africa-based bank previously said it sees
more benefit growing business in Africa and with its major trading
partners, including China and Brazil.
The Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. is a 20%
shareholder in Standard Bank and the Johannesburg-bank said it is
working to benefit more from that relationship.
In the past 18 months, Standard Bank has sold an operation in
Russia and is selling off another in Argentina. It already cut
staff in London, once numbered at more than 2,000 and has more than
halved the number of employees in Hong Kong. It also looks set to
slash headcount in Brazil.
At the same time, the company says it is opening branches in key
markets in Africa, such as Nigeria, where it added 145 branches in
the past year and a half to total 175. It aims to have a network of
200 branches in the country by February 2013.
Many banks are cutting back their investment bank operations in
the U.K., amid stricter regulations requiring more capital reserves
and political pressure on banks to reduce risk.
Last month, UBS AG dismissed thousands of employees in London as
part of a cost-cutting program that will see about 10,000 job
losses across the bank by 2017, and that London will bear the brunt
of those cuts.
Write to Devon Maylie at devon.maylie@dowjones.com
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