SINGAPORE – British lender Standard Chartered is looking to strengthen its competitive position in Singapore’s crowded domestic banking space, where it may open up to 10 additional branches following the consolidation of its consumer and small and medium enterprise (SME) banking businesses into a locally-incorporated subsidiary.

“We expect overtime to leverage on being locally incorporated vis-à-vis the competition from those that are not … We expect to request for approval for additional branches and ATMs. That’s our key constraint on our retail business today, and (being locally incorporated) will help us going forward,” Mr Ray Ferguson, CEO of the newly incorporated Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) Ltd, said at the inauguration ceremony on Monday.

StanChart currently has 19 branches, seven priority banking centres and 31 ATMs across 25 places of business in Singapore, Mr Ferguson said. But that number may potentially double once the European Union-Singapore free-trade agreement comes into force.

“That will double up to 50 assuming a bank is locally (incorporated) and once the EU-Singapore FTA is completed sometime next year,” Mr Ferguson explained. “But within the 25 new places, we’re only allowed to have up to 10 physical branches. The rest will have to be ATMs or kiosks.” The expansion will be subject to regulatory approval.

And while the domestic banking sector is highly competitive, Mr Ferguson said, he sees great business potential in having a greater retail and SME banking presence here.

“The local banks have the biggest access to market and distribution. On one hand it’s very competitive, but it’s still a very profitable market, with good standards and a rising demographic,” he said.

Monday’s announcement is another move by the Asia-focused bank to strengthen its standing in Singapore, where it has a history of more than 150 years and employs over 7,600 people.

StanChart, whose largest shareholder is Temasek Holdings with a stake of about 18 per cent, obtained about 11 per cent of its global income from Singapore in its last financial year.

The Republic is also the hub for the lender’s global consumer and wholesale banking operations, as well as the headquarters for Standard Chartered Private Bank.

Mr Lawrence Wong, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information, noted at the inauguration event on Monday StanChart’s role in nurturing local talent and leadership in the financial sector.

“Manpower development is one of the key priorities of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, so we look forward to continuing the good partnership we have with the bank to build a strong Singapore core in its workforce,” he said.

“Standard Chartered serves more than 900,000 retail and SME customers in Singapore, and this latest move by the bank further demonstrates its long term commitment to Singapore,” he added.