渣打宣佈裁員1.5萬人 StanChart to raise cash and cut jobs

Bill Winters has taken an axe to Standard Chartered, with the emerging market bank’s new chief executive revealing plans to raise 3.3bn in a rights issue while cutting 15,000 jobs.

新興市場銀行渣打(Standard Chartered)的新任首席執行官比爾溫特斯(Bill Winters)宣佈，計劃通過配股募資33億英鎊，同時裁減1.5萬職位。

StanChart said yesterday that the job cuts, out of a total workforce of 86,000, were part of a beefed-up restructuring programme to reduce costs by $2.9bn, after the bank suffered its first quarterly loss in 15 years.

現有8.6萬員工的渣打昨日表示，此次裁員是一個加強版重組計劃的一部分，目的是削減29億美元成本。此前該行遭遇15年來首次季度虧損。

Mr Winters, a former JPMorgan investment banker hired by StanChart in May, presented details of a long-awaited strategic review, which includes moves to restructure or reduce $100bn of its $315bn of underperforming risk-weighted assets in the next three years, plans that he described as “aggressive and decisive”.

前摩根大通(JPMorgan)投行家、今年5月被渣打任命爲CEO的溫特斯，陳述了一項各方期待已久的戰略評估的細節，包括在未來三年期間採取行動，將該行表現不佳的3150億美元風險加權資產重組或減少1000億美元。他形容這些計劃是“大刀闊斧和果斷的”。

The bank joins a number of European rivals that have recently laid out plans to cut jobs and assets, including Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse.

該行由此加入多家歐洲銀行的行列，巴克萊(Barclays)、德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank)和瑞信(Credit Suisse)等最近都宣佈了裁員和減少資產的計劃。

The announcements came after StanChart undershot analysts’ expectations with a quarterly loss of $139m — its first since the Asian financial crisis in 1999.

作出上述宣佈之前，渣打最近報告了遜於分析師預期的1.39億美元季度虧損，這是自1999年亞洲金融危機以來頭一回出現虧損。

StanChart faces further potential problems after Mr Winters said that it was the subject of two investigations by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority into potential anti-money laundering and financial crime breaches. These are separate to a probe by US regulators into potential breaches of Iran sanctions.

渣打還面臨更多潛在問題。溫特斯披露，該行是英國金融市場行爲監管局(FCA)兩項調查的調查對象，這些調查針對反洗錢和金融犯罪方面的違規嫌疑。與此同時，該行還因涉嫌違反針對伊朗的制裁而受到美國監管機構調查。

Shares in the bank, which also scrapped its final dividend, were the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100, closing 6.7 per cent lower at 666p.

渣打還宣佈不派發末期股息，該行股價昨日收盤下跌6.7%，至666便士，是富時100指數(FTSE 100)中跌幅最大的成份股。

StanChart’s UK-listed shares have halved in the past two years with investors fearing it has lost its way as emerging market economies slowed, the commodity cycle ended and regulators cracked down on misconduct.

渣打在英國上市的股票價格在過去兩年裏跌去了一半，原因是投資者擔心，隨着新興市場經濟放緩，大宗商品週期結束，以及監管機構打擊違規行爲，該行已迷失方向。

“The business environment in our markets remains challenging and our recent performance is disappointing,” said Mr Winters.

“我行所在市場的營商環境仍充滿挑戰，我行近期的表現令人失望，”溫特斯承認。

The restructuring, designed to achieve a return on equity of 8 per cent by 2018 and 10 per cent by 2020, will cost the bank $3bn.

重組的目的是到2018年實現8%的股本回報率，到2020年實現10%的股本回報率。重組本身將給該行帶來30億美元成本。

Much of the hoped-for cost savings will be reinvested into better performing parts of the bank, such as private banking, Africa and renminbi services as well as improved technology and compliance.

在希望實現的成本節省中，相當大一部分將重新投入該行表現較好的部門，如私人銀行、非洲及人民幣業務，還有一部分將投資於技術和合規方面。

Some analysts were underwhelmed by StanChart’s plans. “Is 8 per cent return on equity by 2018 enough? It is not very inspiring,” said Ronit Ghose, analyst at Citigroup. “But maybe that is where banking is today.”

一些分析師對渣打的計劃評價不高。“2018年達到8%的股本回報率就夠了嗎？這不是太令人振奮，”花旗集團(Citigroup)分析師羅妮特戈斯(Ronit Ghose)表示，“但或許今日銀行業就是那個水平。”