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Standard Chartered looks to consolidate its Taiwan market

Standard Chartered Bank said yesterday that Taiwan's market would be one of the key drivers of the bank's future growth, but the UK lender would not engage in further takeovers to enable faster expansion any time soon.

"We don't buy to grow. We grow what we buy," Peter Sands, group chief executive of Standard Chartered Plc, told a media briefing in Taipei yesterday.

Priority

The priority was to integrate operations with Hsinchu International Bank (新竹國際商銀) and this was progressing well, Sands said during his first trip to Taiwan since taking over the helm of Standard Charter last November.

Fundamental growth will be organic, Sands said. This does not mean that there will be no more merger and acquisition activities for the British bank in Taiwan but they would need to be "compelling cases," he said.

Standard Chartered has controlled 98.7 percent of Hsinchu International as of last week after it launched a tender offer for the local bank last October. The British bank now has 86 branches in Taiwan, up from a previous total of three.

Integration

Standard Chartered was the first foreign bank to buyout a Taiwanese bank. It expects to finish integration early in the second half of this year.

Upholding its single branding strategy, the new name of the merged entity will be revealed shortly, Sands said.

But sources told the Taipei Times that the name of the new entity would be Standard Chartered International Bank which will be announced on Tuesday.

The management team is stable and established, he said in response to questions about a possible management reshuffle. James McCabe currently heads Standard Chartered Taiwan and Wu Chi-wei (吳志偉) chairs Hsinchu International.
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