Standard Chartered to expand Philippine operations in 2024

MANILA  -British banking giant Standard Chartered Bank is preparing to beef up its Philippine workforce after choosing Manila as the site for a new global business service center.

The multinational lender said Standard Chartered Group Services Manila Inc., which will be fully operational in 2024, joins the bank’s network of global business services centers in China, India, Malaysia and Poland.

The service centers are hubs that manage “complex, large scale, cross-border activities including technology and finance services, cyber security, and banking operations”.

The bank is currently finalizing the manpower requirements for the new service center before the business is formally launched next year, a bank official said.

“Standard Chartered continues to look for opportunities to expand our operations to support our clients, businesses globally and our shared services operations in Asia – to ensure we have a fit for purpose, cost effective workforce to support the bank’s strategy,” Matthew Norris, global head of Standard Chartered central operations and global business services, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“As such, our decision to establish a center  in the Philippines further strengthens our strategic agenda and enable us to better support our clients and businesses in our markets,” he added.

The new business unit is a multi-disciplinary firm that provides technology, software and system development, technology support services, banking operations, finance, human resources, risk, audit, compliance, legal and professional services.

“We are proud to announce the establishment of Standard Chartered Group Services Manila Inc. It underpins the Bank’s deep commitment to the Philippines as the oldest international bank in the country,” said Standard Chartered Bank Philippines’ incoming CEO Mike Samson.

“It is likewise a testament to the world-class Filipino talent pool and capabilities, which we will continue to invest in, to deliver best-in-class services to our clients, as we have over the last 151 years,” he added.

Samson is set to formally assume the role of CEO of the bank’s Philippine unit by the end of 2023.

Samson, who joined Standard Chartered in 2009, has 28 years of extensive domestic and international corporate experience, working across a range of industries, including insurance, power, infrastructure, oil and gas, telecommunications, media, technology, mining, transportation, airlines, real estate, logistics, consumer goods, and healthcare.