Standard Chartered is reorganizing its Asia operations. The bank now plans to create two new hubs in Singapore and Hong Kong to simplify its network and reduce costs. According to news reports, the bank is expected to consolidate some 10 Southeast and South Asian countries under a new Singapore subsidiary. This hub is expected to cover countries including India and Indonesia. The bank expects this will help to manage its assets and capital more efficiently and could potentially reduce the size of the emergency buffers regulators require it to maintain. The other hub being planned in Hong Kong will cover some of its non-China North Asian countries like South Korea. The bank is operating in about 60 markets.
