Reuters, 03/02 08:08 CET

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Standard Chartered STAN.L is looking to sell its retail business in the Philippines, part of a wider bid by embattled CEO Peter Sands to cut costs and shrink the bank’s asset base, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The London-listed bank, which entered the Philippines in 1872, would continue to operate its corporate banking business in the country to focus on top clients such as San Miguel SMC.PS, the nation’s biggest conglomerate, the source said.

A spokesman for Standard Chartered said the bank would “not comment on speculation”.

Standard Chartered currently has five branches and over 500 employees in the Philippines, according to its website. Two-thirds of those employees are in its retail business, the source said.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Additional reporting by Karen Lema and Jerome Morales in MANILA and Lawrence White in HONG KONG; Editing by Lisa Jucca and Miral Fahmy)

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