Standard aims to add 2,000 extra staff

The Asia-focused bank said operating profit was up more than 10 per cent in the first quarter as it kept a tight grip on costs, and said it expects to add about 2,000 staff during the year as it picks up the pace of its investment.

“We have real momentum and we have significant investment capacity, so we will accelerate investment over and above what we budgeted,” said finance director Richard Meddings.

The bank expects to open its 100th branch in China this year – it now has 86, making it the third-biggest foreign bank in the country, after HSBC and Bank of East Asia.

Wages in the bank’s main markets continue to rise, but after a spike in inflation last year – when the underlying rise in wages was 5.5 per cent, and more than 10 per cent in hot markets like China and India – Mr Meddings said the increase was “somewhat abating”.

It kept its staffing level at around 87,000 in the first quarter, but should add about 2,000 jobs by the end of 2012, in its technology operational hubs and China sales force, Mr Meddings added.

London-based Standard Chartered, which gets about four-fifths of its income in Asia, earns much of that in local currencies, which translates to fewer dollars when the US currency strengthens.

Mr Meddings said the currency impact should ease in the second half of the year.