Winters said he planned to reduce the number of staff who are graded in bands 1-4 by a quarter, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.
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The cull shows the scale of the overhaul Winters is planning at the Asia-focused bank, which he has said needs to speed up decision-making on costs, people and strategy, and improve its risk management and profitability. The bank’s Indian business slumped to a loss in the first half of 2015, due to higher provisions as the bank had to set aside more money to cover for rising non-performing assets. Winter’s plan reportedly also includes disposals of businesses in areas, where Standard Chartered is “not differentiated” or “not critical to a core strength”.
Winters was recruited to Standard Chartered, a familiar sight on high streets in emerging markets, to bolster returns to shareholders after three profit warnings in quick succession dented its share price.
He is expected to outline more details on his plans to investors and staff in November or December. At the time he was careful not to put a figure on job cuts after 4,000 roles – or 5% of the workforce – had been cut in the previous six months.
“Bill’s note to staff earlier this week is an update on what we said we were going to do”, Standard Chartered said in an e-mailed statement on Friday.
Winters said the bank would also make disposals and cut clients as part of his strategic review.
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Standard Chartered has also been fined more than US$1 billion for breaching USA sanctions, including with Iran, and authorities there are still investigating a few issues. In it, he has made it clear that kick-starting performance is a priority, and we are not standing still.
