StanChart tipped to consolidate Asia operations into SG and HK hubs

Standard Chartered is tipped to create two new hubs – Singapore and Hong Kong – for its Asia operations. This is in a bid to simplify its extensive network and cut costs, Bloomberg sources said.The report added that the move may consolidate as many as 10 countries in Southeast and South Asia and involve Indonesia and India – housed under a new Singapore subsidiary as early as next year. Meanwhile, the consolidation of non-China North Asian markets such as South Korea will likely be housed under the Hong Kong subsidiary, Bloomberg reported. Plans are currently not finalised.The move will also allow the bank to better manage assets and capital more efficiently, and also reduce the amount of emergency buffer regulators required for the firm to continue. It also follows an announcement in February which saw the bank consolidating its retail, commercial and investment bank in Singapore into a single unit, the report added."The group is strongly capitalised and is highly liquid, and as you would expect, we continually look at ways of optimising the group’s capital and liquidity structures," a Standard Chartered spokesperson said in a statement to Marketing. Marketing has reached out to Standard Chartered for additional details.Most recently, Standard Chartered launched its global campaign that takes its “Here for good” brand promise and poses a new tougher challenge: “Good enough will never change the world”. The new campaign retains the original brand promise but sharpens the focus on how banks can help tackle some of the problems that stand in the way of global prosperity and commerce.The bank also extended its sponsorship with Liverpool Football Club by another four years until the end of the 2022-2023 football season. Financial terms of the agreement remain undisclosed. The bank first came on board as a sponsor in July 2010, and subsequently extended its sponsorship agreement in 2013 and later on in 2015.(Read also: Standard Chartered asks fans to identify their Liverpool FC personality)