Standard Chartered Bank Will Fire 200 Indian Employees; Digital Banking Is The Main Reason?
Upto 85% of banking operations have become Digital.
$660 billion worth Standard Chartered Bank doesn’t need human employees for some core banking operations, as Digital Banking is changing everything.
In order to cut costs, and to enable more digitalization, this UK-based multinational banking and financial services company has decided to fire 200 Indian employees.
A spokesperson from Standard Chartered has confirmed this development, as he said that a ‘small number’ of retail banking jobs have been terminated.
He said, “We have been working on multiple initiatives, including digitisation, to drive performance…as result of this transition, a small number of Retail Banking roles have fallen away,”
Similar job cuts have reported from Standard Chartered Bank offices in Singapore and Dubai as well. In Dubai, some reports claim that more than 100 employees can be fired befre 2019 ends.
Standard Chartered Bank has 86,000 employees on-roll, globally (June, 2018). After the job cuts, there will be 7300 employees remaining in India.
Digital Banking Rises: Humans No Longer Needed?
Digital Banking or the process of conducting core banking operations via Internet banking or self-help kiosks is gaining momentum everywhere, across every major bank.
And Standard Chartered Bank is no exception.
As per some sources, upto 85% of banking operations in Standard Chartered Bank have now become digital, and humans are no longer needed to carry forward these tasks.
Checkout some numbers:
- 85% of the bank’s payment transactions are now digital
- 80% of the banking transactions done by 24-35 age group is now Digital
- 83% of application onboarding done in Standard Chartered bank is now digital
In view of these stunning facts related to Digital Banking, it becomes imperative for the management to consider job terminations. After all, what will the humans do now?
To be fair, Standard Chartered Bank is not the only bank to focus on Digital Banking and to reduce strength.
In 2016, HSBC had announced that they will remove 50% of their branches, as their focus now lies on Digital Banking.
Employees Will Be Fairly Compensated
The spokesperson from the bank has confirmed two other things:
- Retail banking in India is crucial for Standard Chartered Bank, and is “core to strategic ambitions and growth plans”.
- The terminated employees will be provided with ‘fair compensation packages’, and will be helped to relocate and rejoin elsewhere.
Is There Any Other Reason For Job Cuts?
Ever since Bill Winters became CEO of Standard Chartered Bank in 2015, the share prices have witnessed more than 40% drop. Last year, the bank reported 82 percent rise in first-half profits, at the same time, the bank’s operating losses increased by 7% to $4.9 billion.
The top management is under pressure to reduce the losses, and the job cuts can be a part of the process.
We will keep you updated, as we receive more news and views about this news.
