Standard Chartered, the UK-listed bank earning the vast majority of revenues outside the UK in regions such as Africa and Asia, said it will manage more money for the wealthy and cut as many as 100 retail branches.

Standard Chartered, the UK-listed bank earning the vast majority of revenues outside the UK in regions such as Africa and Asia, said it will manage more money for the wealthy and cut as many as 100 retail branches, it confirmed to this publication.

The bank, which had 1,248 branches worldwide at the end of June, said it plans to boost digital transactions by 10 per cent in 2015 (source: Bloomberg).

The lender is targeting 10 per cent growth in private banking and wealth management assets, the bank said in a presentation earlier this week in Hong Kong, reports said. The report adds to comments, as reported already by WealthBriefingAsia, that the bank wanted its wealth arm to be a bigger share of the business going forward. (To see an exclusive interview with its head of private banking recently, click here.)

“Our recent performance has been disappointing and we are determined to get back on to a trajectory of sustainable, profitable growth, delivering returns above our cost of capital,” finance director Andy Halford, said at the presentation.

The bank’s executives, such as CEO Peter Sands, have been under pressure over the firm’s performance in recent months. The shares of the bank have fallen by almost a third this year, underperforming against its main UK-listed rivals.

A spokesperson for the bank told this publication the branch cuts will be spread around geographically rather than focused on a particular region.