Standard Chartered has been better known for its layoffs in Asia of late (think, 4,000 retail redundancies and 200 jobs lost in equities).
But the bank has also been setting out its emerging hiring priorities. Late last month, for example, headhunters told us that Stan Chart plans to recruit more bankers to service ultra-wealthy clients, following the appointment of Alison May Chan as managing director for ultra high net worth private banking in Greater China.
And now Yasunori Takeuchi, chief executive officer for Japan at Stan Chart, says the firm may hire more staff in Singapore to service Japanese customers that want to boost operations in Southeast Asia, reports Bloomberg. While Takeuchi didn’t provide any headcount expansion numbers – currently only 170 people work in the bank’s Japan business – finding Japanese-speaking candidates in Singapore will be difficult thanks to competition from expanding Japanese banks.
As we noted in December, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ is growing its Singapore-based transaction-banking headcount in a bid to win more business from some 180 Japanese corporates who have regional headquarters in the city state. Mizuho is also staffing up in Singapore as it launches a new transaction-banking unit. As a result, Japanese banking professionals in Singapore are in demand and are able to clinch high salary increases if they choose to move, say recruiters.
Separately, Stan Chart may also be set to hire more mass-affluent priority bankers and more digital-banking specialists as part of the broader restructuring it is currently embarking on. Reuters reports that the firm is shifting its retail banking focus to affluent clients from ordinary customers and urging them to bank online.
Meanwhile:
Why asset management firms in China can’t retain their talent. (Pensions & Investments)
Southeast Asia investment banking head leaves Goldman Sachs. (Finance Asia)
First there was Stock Connect; now “Bond Connect” is on the cards. (South China Morning Post)
China launches stock options on the Shanghai exchange. (Straits Times)
More on the shady dealings of HSBC in Switzerland (Business Insider)