Standard Chartered plans to halve Singapore office space in flexible working shift

London-based bank is giving up nine floors at Marina Bay Financial Tower 1 in the city-state's business district

Singapore's business district. Standard Chartered bankers may not have their own desks after the bank cut its office space. AFP

Standard Chartered plans to cut half of its existing office space in Singapore’s financial district in what is set to be the biggest floor reduction by a bank in the city-state in recent years.

The London-based lender is giving up nine of the floors it leases at Marina Bay Financial Tower 1 in the business district. Bloomberg previously reported that the bank was considering slashing its office space by at least four floors.

With the downsize, bankers may not have their own desks and may have to reserve their spots before coming to the office, sources said. The lender’s current lease expires in October this year.

“With 80 per cent of our Singapore-based employees adopting flexible work arrangements, we are reinvesting in and refreshing our premises to create a more open, conducive and collaborative environment,” a Standard Chartered representative said.

Singapore is a critical global centre for the bank and it retains a significant presence in buildings in the city, including Marina Bay Financial Centre, the bank's representative said.

Lenders worldwide are debating whether to ask workers to return to the office in a bid to live with the coronavirus pandemic, now in its third year.

Only 3 per cent of white-collar workers want to go to the office five days a week, according to a recent poll, which warned employees will quit if bosses force them back full-time.

The downsizing of Standard Chartered’s Singapore workplace makes it the biggest office space cut among lenders in the city in recent years.

Citigroup has already given up three of its office floors to Amazon while Mizuho Financial Group has also cut some space.

Prime-grade office rents in Singapore’s financial district rose for a third straight quarter in the first three months of this year, according to a Knight Frank report.

Rents inched up 1.2 per cent from the previous quarter, the report said.

More people are expected to return to offices after Singapore massively eased virus curbs late last month, allowing up to 75 per cent of employees working from home to go back.