StanChart Plans 7,000 Job Cuts and AI Push to Boost Return on Equity Target to 15%

Standard Chartered raised a key profit metric on Tuesday that the bank expects to achieve through deep headcount cuts and an expansion of its key wealth business.

In a strategy update to investors, StanChart said it would deliver a more than 15% return on tangible equity (ROTE) in 2028, more than three percentage points higher than in 2025, and building to about 18% in 2030.

The lender, which employed around 51,000 staff in support services - equivalent to back office positions - as of June 2025, said it would reduce more than 15% of its corporate function roles by 2030.

That is equivalent to a cut of more than 7,000 roles out of the bank's 80,000 global staff.

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The reduction will be driven by automation and adoption of artificial intelligence as some staff reskill, StanChart CEO Bill Winters told a press conference.

"It's not cost-cutting. It's replacing in some cases lower-value human capital with the financial capital and the investment capital we're putting in," Winters said.

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The bank's Hong Kong-listed shares gained 2.3% at market open, against a flat benchmark Hang Seng.

With the latest measures, StanChart is seeking to build on a long turnaround and deliver stronger growth, even as geopolitical uncertainty clouds the outlook for some of its key markets.

Asia-Pacific banks may need to raise loan-loss provisions further if the Iran conflict drags on, as higher energy costs and weaker growth strain borrowers, analysts said.

For London-headquartered StanChart, which focuses on Asia-Pacific, the region has so far been both a risk and a revenue driver. It set aside $190 million in precautionary provisions linked to the Middle East conflict in the first quarter.

The bank, which is also focused on Africa, hit earlier performance targets ahead of schedule, shifting attention to whether Winters can help it sustain momentum after years of restructuring.

"We achieved our 2026 medium-term financial targets a year earlier than planned," Winters said in a statement.

"We now have a more focused, streamlined and efficient organisation."

StanChart is underpinning its new target by keeping its focus on higher-margin businesses, including affluent retail clients and financial institutions within its corporate and investment banking division.

In the first quarter, the bank reported both its highest wealth revenue and new client money.

On Monday, the lender named Manus Costello, investor relations head and equity research veteran, as its permanent CFO, succeeding Diego De Giorgi, who resigned in February after nearly three years with the bank. (Reporting by Selena Li in Hong Kong and Rajasik Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Muralikumar Anantharaman)