MANILA: Standard Chartered is looking to sell its retail business in the Philippines, part of a wider bid by embattled CEO Peter Sands to cut costs and shrink the bank’s asset base.
The London listed bank, which entered the Philippines in 1872, would continue to operate its corporate banking business in the country to focus on top clients such as San Miguel, the nation’s biggest conglomerate.
Antonio Moncupa, president of Philippine’s EastWest Banking Corporation, said his firm would consider a bid for StanChart’s retail banking assets.
Standard Chartered’s assets in the Philippines total $1.72 billion, according to the country’s central bank. It currently has five branches and over 500 employees in the Southeast Asian nation, according to the bank’s website. Two to thirds of those employees are in its retail business.
The CEO has been shuttering businesses where the lender had failed to achieve sustainable scale. Last month StanChart closed the bulk of its global equities business and said it would ax 4,000 jobs in retail banking.
In December Standard Chartered sold its Hong Kong and Shenzhen consumer finance businesses to a consortium that included China Travel Financial Holdings, US hedge fund York Capital Management Global Advisers and financial firm Pepper Australia Pty Limited.
It was not immediately clear how much the retail business would fetch, as no breakdown of StanChart’s retail assets in the Philippines is available. It could be left with one branch if the sale goes ahead.
The sale could attract bids from Philippine lenders who dominate the local banking business and further a government backed goal of bringing consolidation to the domestic banking sector.
