Standard Chartered to split Asia operations into Hong Kong and Singapore hubs

The move aims to curb costs and simplify the bank's structure.

Bloomberg reports that Standard Chartered is said to be mulling the creation of two new hubs for its Asian operations in Singapore and Hong Kong in a bid to simplify its massive banking network and bring costs down.

The bank plans to consolidate as many as 10 Southeast Asian countries, potentially including Indonesia and India, under the Singapore subsidiary. The bank’s non-China North Asian operations may be consolidated under the separate Hong Kong subsidiary.

Standard Chartered will be able to consolidate its liquidity and capital by uniting several countries in a move executives hope will reduce its regulatory requirements as the bank’s balance sheet is fragmented and that is constraining lending and growth, sources told Bloomberg.

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