Bill Winters – CEO of Standard Chartered

The London-headquartered banking giant, which employs around 82,000 staff globally, has revealed it intends to slash more than 15% of its back-office roles.

While management has not specified which locations will bear the brunt of the redundancies, the lender maintains major corporate hubs in Bengaluru, Shenzhen and Warsaw alongside its core UK presence.

The restructuring forms the centrepiece of a fresh efficiency drive led by group chief executive Bill Winters, aimed at boosting profitability across the bank’s sprawling footprint, which is heavily weighted toward Asian markets.

Standard Chartered stated that it is scaling up the practical applications of advanced analytics and AI to streamline operations, sharpen decision-making, and improve internal productivity.

The lender is targeting a return on tangible equity (RoTE) of more than 15% by 2028, which would mark a three percentage point increase from 2025 levels. The bank also intends to lower its cost-to-income ratio through these automation efforts, anticipating that enhanced productivity will lift income per employee by roughly 20% over the next two years.

Mr Winters defended the strategic pivot, arguing that investing in these capabilities will compound the bank’s cross-border competitive advantages and secure higher-quality returns in an increasingly complex global market.