IFR International - 20.10.2018

„ IN BRIEF

BAML CEO BRIAN MOYNIHAN ON ITS M&A PROBLEMS, P11

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COST CHALLENGE

STANDARD CHARTERED is facing “a significant

challenge” to meet its 2018 cost reduction targets

and is likely to cut jobs, freeze hiring and reduce

investment, its chief financial officer said in an

internal email.

“We have made virtually no progress since May,

when we adjusted our budgets in reducing our

cost base,” CFO Andy Halford wrote in the email

sent to senior managers at the bank this month

and reported by jobs website efinancialcareers.

The bank confirmed the veracity of the email

but said it still expects second-half expenses to

be similar to its costs in the first half of the year.

A recent slowdown in income is likely to continue

into the fourth quarter, Halford said in the email.

FULLY STAFFED

COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA has appointed

Alan Docherty as chief financial officer, putting the

final touch to a leadership team that is now fully

staffed with permanent appointees for the first

time since a money-laundering scandal last year

was followed by a flood of resignations.

Docherty, who had been acting CFO following

the surprise departure in May of Rob Jesudason,

is the eighth appointment to the bank’s executive

committee since the scandal. Docherty previously

served as CFO of CBA’s institutional banking and

markets division and has also held roles in group

finance and group treasury.

START OVER

DANSKE BANK, reeling from a money laundering

scandal, will resume its search for a new chief

executive after a Danish regulator rejected its

internal candidate for the job. Analysts said it

would be forced to look outside the bank.

Jacob Aarup-Andersen, 40, the Danske board’s

choice to take over the helm of Denmark’s biggest

bank, was rejected by the country’s financial

regulator on the grounds that he

wasn’t experienced enough. The previous

CEO, Thomas Borgen, was ousted last month

as the group struggles to deal with a €200bn

money laundering scandal that has prompted

several criminal investigations and spooked

investors.

EASING SQUEEZE

India’s central bank has relaxed rules on lending

to non-banking finance companies, in the latest

move to avert a funding crunch in the sector. The

Reserve Bank of India is allowing banks to lend

more to NBFCs and housing finance companies

without impacting their statutory liquidity

requirements from now until the end of the year.

The temporary measures are the third move in

the past eight days to ease a liquidity squeeze on

non-bank lenders.

South Korea probes

losses from China default

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