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Standard Chartered Brings Forward Wealth, Retail Banking Net New Money Targets

Tom Burroughes

20 May 2026

says its wealth and retail banking arm is accelerating its targets to acquire $200 billion of net new money, bringing the date forward to 2028 from 2029.

Looking across all its businesses, the UK-listed bank said it achieved its 2026 medium-term financial targets a “year earlier than planned.”

Among the details, the lender said it will be cutting the numbers of staff in corporate functions by more than 15 per cent by 2030. 

“The reduction is explicitly focused on corporate functions, so not the client-facing segments of the wealth management and private bank segments,” a spokesperson for Standard Chartered told this news service when asked about the matter.

The job cuts will be mitigated by an uplift in client-facing activity, the bank said. “We expect revenue per employee to rise by about 20 per cent, therefore growth in the business will also further offset likely reductions,” the spokesperson said. 

Standard Chartered set out the strategy earlier this week, having issued its first-quarter 2026 financial results a few weeks ago.

“We now have a more focused, streamlined and efficient organisation, positioning us strongly for the next stage of growth and to deliver our strategy at greater scale and pace,” Bill Winters (main picture), group chief executive, said. 

The bank will deliver a greater-than 15 per cent return on tangible equity in 2028, a more than 3 percentage point uplift from 2025, building up to around 18 per cent by 2030. It is also targeting a 5 to 7 per cent income compound annual growth rate from 2025 to 2028 to generate a cost-to-income ratio of about 57 per cent in 2028, down from 63 per cent in 2025. It also wants to deliver a dividend payout ratio of 30 per cent or more and operate inside a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio range of 13 to 14 per cent. 

The bank said it is scaling practical uses of automation, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to streamline processes, improve decision-making and enhance both client service and internal efficiency.