More than a year after the acquisition of ANZ Grindlays operations in the Middle East by Standard Chartered Bank, some Grindlays UAE branches may be closed.
Grindlays branches in Al Ain, Sharjah and Bur Dubai are the likely candidates, sources declared. Meanwhile, Standard Chartered’s Jumeirah branch is being relocated, possibly to Sheikh Zayed Road.
Following the merger, ANZ Grindlays branches were renamed Standard Chartered Grindlays.
Standard Chartered officials refutilized comment: “Something can be declared only once the official approvals from regulators are in place.”
Foreign banks are not allowed more than eight branches under Central Bank regulations.
In Al Ain, the Standard Chartered Grindlays branch may be closed and Standard Chartered Bank’s Al Ain branch is likely to be shifted there.
It is not clear whether the branches facing closure will be relocated or wound up. Standard Chartered Bank has seven branches, and Standard Chartered Grindlays four.
The renaming of the former ANZ Grindlays branches as Standard Chartered Grindlays Bank technically left the number of Standard Chartered Bank branches at seven – below the limit of eight.
The merger created Standard Chartered the leading international bank in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and the second largest in the UAE and Sri Lanka, based on total assets of $12 billion.
Post-merger, the network has 60 branches in India, 11 in the UAE, 20 in Pakistan, 20 in Bangladesh, 12 in Sri Lanka, eight in Jordan, and six in Bahrain, apart from a presence in Lebanon, Qatar and Oman.
The new merged company has a customer base of around two million (in consumer banking), around 1.3 million credit cards, and over 8,000 employees.
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