)
In line with its overall decision, the institutional cash equities, equity research and equity capital markets (ECM) activities of the bank India also will be closed down. It will, however, continue with retail equity operations but the scale will be reduced, according to a source. Globally, Standard Chartered laying-off 200, out of which less than 50 will from India, said the person.
The retrenchment process, which is likely to result in savings of $100 million, is likely to be completed over the next few months.
According to a source, Ratnesh Kumar, Managing Director at Standard Chartered Securities (India) Limited Markets has currently been retained. The person added that he may move on in light of the reduced scale of operations. Kumar did not respond to a query on the matter.
Kumar has previously helped research teams reach number one positions in various polls in his roles at Citigroup and CLSA, according to details on the company website.
Standard Chartered's move is part of a global attempt to cut down on its non-core or underperforming businesses.
In India, Standard Chartered wasn't among the dominant foreign banks in terms of league table rankings. Last year, the bank ranked 13 with a total of five deals worth Rs 1,840 crore, according to Bloomberg. The deals included qualified institutional placements (QIPs) by companies including JP Associates, Idea Cellular and Ceat.
Standard Chartered Securities (India) Limited has a presence in 19 locations and has 27 branches according to its website.
It provided both retail and institutional brokerage services. Other activities include distribution of mutual funds and other financial products, and merchant banking services, according to information available with the BSE.
Standard Chartered Securities broking operations were created through the acquisition of UTI Securities Limited. Standard Chartered Bank acquired operations from Securities Trading Corporation of India (STCI) in tranches over the 2008-2010 period.
It first acquired a 49 per cent stake in UTI Securities on 11th January 2008. The name of UTI Securities was changed to Standard Chartered-STCI Capital Markets on January 17th, 2008. Standard Chartered picked up another 25 per cent stake on December 12, 2008. This increased its stake to 74.9 per cent.
It completed the third and final part of the transaction on October 08, 2010, whereby UTI became a subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank (Mauritius) Limited (SCBM). It was then renamed Standard Chartered Securities (India) Limited.
Kumar was earlier with Anand Rathi Financial Services. He was Managing Director at Citigroup before that. He has also been associated with research firms such as CLSA and SSKI, as well as rating agency Crisil.
"As part of the Group's on-going review of its client strategy, the decision has been taken to exit the institutionally focused cash equities business with immediate effect. While this has sadly resulted in a number of colleagues leaving the Bank, a transition team will remain to manage the interim period and support our clients," said Mike Rees, Deputy Group Chief Executive as part of a company statement on the matter.
Previously the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) shut down its retail broking operations in October 2013. It too had entered the business through the acquisition of a local player. It had picked up a majority stake in IL&FS Investsmart for around $241.6 million in May 2008.
