News of Standard Chartered Bank considering restructuring its Institutional Banking arm (includes its investment bankers and traders) to improve returns, is doing the rounds.

➡ What are predicted headcounts of related Standard Chartered teams in 2024 & 2025?

➡ What will you need to know about this development if you're keen to crack multiple banking & investment banking offers for summer analyst and grad job roles?

SCB’s departmental division of labor has always been very different from other banks. While student internships should not be impacted much from restructuring, you must have clarity on key divisions as Standard Chartered has continuously adjusted the structure of the Internship/Graduate Program in the last decade.

📍10 years ago: All-round rotational program: Management Trainee Program

Rotations across

✅Retail

✅Commercial Bank

✅Corp Bank

✅Sales & Trading

✅IBD

📍7-8 years ago: After students join the program, they did rotations as a team under a specific dept:

✅Retail

✅Commercial Bank

✅Transactional Bank

✅Corp Bank

✅Financial Markets (S&T+DCM Team）

✅IBD (=Corporate Finance）

📍4-5 years ago:

➡️Place Commercial, Corp Bank and IBD (Corporate Finance) together and hire someone

✅CCIB（Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking）

✅Retail

✅Financial Markets

📍Last year:

➡️There are also divisions with different subdivisions

✅CPBB (=retail)

✅Client Coverage（=Commercial and Corporate Bank）

✅Investment Banking (=Corporate Finance =IBD)

✅Financial Markets (=S&T+DCM Team)

✅Digital Channels & Data Analytics

✅Transaction Banking

✅Treasury

Evidently last year, Standard Chartered once again separated IBD and hired people. At the same time, it occasionally opened Risk, Compliance and Operations departments. 

Students may ask: "If I am interested in Private Banking, which department should I apply for?" 

Since SCB does not have an exclusive department, students can only sign up via the PWMA Program (opens in October). 

What are SCB's key teams and strengths?

Most of Standard Chartered's revenue or profit comes from the following departments. Its strengths are in products such as Trade Finance and Loan. Some of it also comes from Retail (incl private banking) and S&T:

✅Commercial Bank

✅Corp Bank

✅Transactional Bank

Based on last year’s headcount data, IBank Coaching predicts the headcount distribution of various departments in the coming year 

✅CPBB (Retail & Wealth Man): 5-8

✅Client Coverage (Commercial and Corp Bank): 7-10

✅Investment Banking: 2-4

✅Financial Markets: 4-5

✅Treasury: 2-3

✅Digital Channels & Data Analytics: 4-5

✅Transactional Bank: 2-3

But it’s so complicated. Why do you need to do this? 

Your job application strategy will directly affect your success rate this recruitment season. You must review the requirements of each team, headcount, and the work they do before applying to know which role suits your skills & interests best.