The troubled lender Standard Chartered lost another member of its senior management team with the departure of Mohsin Nathani, the chief executive of its UAE operations, who has resigned to take a career break and spend more time with his family, the London-based bank said in a statement.
Mr Nathani will stay in his post for six more months to ensure a “smooth transition”. His career at StanChart began in 2010 when he was appointed chief executive for Pakistan before he came to the UAE in February last year.
His departure follows those of the chairman John Peace, chief executive Peter Sands, Asia head Jaspal Bindra and Viswanathan Shankar, head of Europe, Middle East, Africa and Americas.
Last month, Afaq Khan, the chief executive of the its Islamic banking division, Saadiq, also decided to leave to take a career break and Hassan Jarrar, StanChart’s Bahrain head will also leave later this year, it emerged this week.
The bank’s global net profits fell almost 40 per cent last year as it faced a “perfect storm” of weakness in emerging markets, falling commodity prices and regulatory challenges, Mr Sands said last month.
Operating profit for its businesses in the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan was also down, falling 10 per cent to US$769 million in 2014 from $858m in 2013.
In January, StanChart said it expected to cut 2,000 jobs across its global retail operations this year after having already cut 2,000 jobs in the final quarter of last year.
More than 90 per cent of the bank’s business comes from emerging markets. Growth in these commodity-rich parts of the world has slowed in the past couple of years as the price of everything from oil, steel and palm oil collapses amid low inflation, currencies weakening against the strengthening US dollar, and widening deficits. Loans to businesses that are sensitive to the fluctuation of commodity prices have also not helped.
Not only is StanChart’s core business of giving out loans suffering, the bank has also been battling regulatory woes.
In August, it was fined $300m by the New York department of financial services for suspicious transactions involving clients in Hong Kong and the Middle East.
As a result, StanChart announced in August it would close the majority of its SME accounts in this country, prompted by higher compliance burdens and a squeeze on profitability because of intensifying competition with local banks.
However, the UAE, which is one of the bank’s top five markets in terms of revenues and operating profits, had been regarded as a bright spot in the region.
In February, Mr Nathani told The National that a slowdown in Dubai’s property market represented opportunities for its mortgage business as homes became more affordable for end users.
dsaadi@thenational.ae
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