StanChart CEO finds room for bank to disrupt itself

Stanchart's pace of change unusual in banking, but not in the digital world, he says, as the bank finds new business models

Kelly Ng

Published Fri, Nov 26, 2021 · 05:50 AM

Standard Chartered

Singapore

NEITHER too big nor too small - that's a good size to be when seizing the digital economy.

Standard Chartered has found itself in such a sweet spot across its key markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, which has put it in good place to "disrupt itself", said the bank's group chief executive Bill Winters.

His bank is looking at generating at least half of its income from digital streams in the next 5 to 10 years. And it is working towards that by repackaging existing banking products for new customers - in many cases, those who are unbanked or under-banked - as well as venturing into entirely new business models.

Winters, speaking to The Business Times during his recent visit to Singapore, said: "'Disrupt' is one of the most overused words in the world, I know that. But there's a good reason why players with the largest market share don't disrupt themselves - because it's rea…