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| Standard Chartered (SC) Bank Chief Executive Bill Winters is scheduled to visit Korea in late August, making a return trip following his last visit in August 2020, when he stayed for a month to check on Korea operations and the banking environment here. Courtesy of SC Bank Korea |
SC Bank Korea marks 15% rise in net profit during 1st half
By Yi Whan-woo
Standard Chartered (SC) Bank Chief Executive Bill Winters will come to Korea later this month, making a return trip following his last visit in August 2020, according to the Seoul branch office of the London-headquartered multinational bank and financial sources, Wednesday.
SC Bank Korea confirmed the chief executive's scheduled visit but did not give further details, including the time of his arrival, duration of his stay, agenda to be discussed or the high-profile Korean figures that he has arranged to meet.
Financial sources speculate that the nature of the trip will be mainly to check on its Korea operations, which have shown steady performance over the past years. It is now the only foreign lender providing retail services after Citibank decided to wind down its retail unit here.
Winters is scheduled to have lunch with SC Bank Korea's board of directors on Aug. 30, according to sources.
The Seoul office's efforts to keep up with the rapidly-evolving digital banking environment is anticipated to be on Winters' checklist.
Conventional banks in Korea face an uphill battle against big tech firms that have been capitalizing on their digital prowess to muscle in on the banking industry.
Against this backdrop, during his month-long trip in 2020, Winters discussed possible cooperation with representatives of some of the fast-growing fintech firms, such as Kakao Bank, NHN Payco and Viva Republica.
Led by CEO Park Jong-bok, SC Bank Korea has maintained a handsome performance due to the increased interest margin.
On Tuesday, SC Bank Korea reported that it posted a net profit of 212.1 billion won ($161.7 million) in the first half of this year, up 14.8 percent from a year earlier.
The company largely attributed the earnings to interest revenue, which jumped 14.8 percent year-on-year to 584.2 billion won.
The rise in earnings is also attributed to the fall in payroll expenses after the bank conducted a large voluntary retirement program in the last quarter of 2021.
Winters has been leading SC Bank since June 2015 after joining the company a month earlier. He spent 26 years with JP Morgan, serving in various leadership roles before being promoted to CEO in 2004 until he stepped down in 2009.
SC Bank Korea was launched in 2005 when the British financial group acquired Korea First Bank, which was widely known as Cheil Bank.
It operated under the name of SC Cheil Bank before it was renamed SC Bank Korea in January 2012.
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