Standard Chartered Bank reviews

Those who shout the loudest tend to rise to the top but unfortunately in many cases empty barrels make the most noise. The bank has grown very quickly and what used to be a small and close knit IT shop is now a huge sprawling mess with tens of thousands working in the IT function. Getting things done is challenging as it's a hugely bureaucratic environment and the processes involved are incredibly poor, instead of fixing the inefficiencies the approach taken by management is to build more bad processes on top of the existing ones. The quality of many of the technical staff is way below average so it's not hard to shine if you're competent and can deliver. The IT function is run by the smart 20% of staff the other 80% are either people who talk a good game but don't actually contribute anything or just passengers. There's a lack of accountability and the management structure is too complicated, many managers are covering the same thing so it's unclear exactly who is responsible for what and when things go wrong there's always a lot of finger pointing but no-one is actually held accountable.

- Most of the middle managers, and some senior managers, seldom come across as impressive when it comes to their management style or expertise. - Too many people were hired just because they are friends with the hiring manager, and not because they are genuinely capable of what they do. If you want to shift to another role within the bank, you have to spend a lot of time and effort networking. - This bank is horribly, terribly disorganised, and many things are done last minute. This compromises the quality of work. - When it comes to new business opportunities or innovation in banking, they are always one step behind other banks. - Managers of south asian descent tend to hire people of the same race. Other people have also said that they generally have difficulty adapting to the working styles of other races. - There is a lot of shifting of tech & ops roles to South Asia for the sake of lowering costs. I personally think it's a recipe for disaster. Most of the time, the southern Asian counterparts are seriously lacking basic communication and listening skills. They are not efficient in delivering outcomes and many projects get delayed very badly. Project cost over-runs can get rather alarming. When they say "yes, it's done" or "yes, it will be done", it usually turns out to be the opposite. I don't believe it to be true for all south Asians, and there are exceptional cases within the bank (though very few), but such sentiments are echoed by many other non-south-Asians in the organisation. - Quite a lot of redundancies were made with the recent merger of its wholesale and consumer banking business. Sometimes these retrenchments happen so fast, it's just bollocks! - Since the merger, everything is in a state of confusion and semi-chaos because people are not sure where the company is heading, how they should navigate the organisation to get things done and how it impacts their promotion and pay. There has been little communicated to staff worldwide. - From time to time, you hear about women sleeping up the corporate ladder. And they still get away with it. - Didn't bother about the employee share options - doesn't seem attractive. Advice to someone who is thinking of joining this organisation soon: - Wait for the dust of the recent reorganisation to settle first. I suspect this may take about a year from now.