Standard Chartered approval for Frankfurt hub delayed

Standard Chartered announced on Monday that the approval to turn its Frankfurt branch into a European Union subsidiary that will conduct its European business post-Brexit has been delayed until autumn at the earliest.

In order to approve the move, the European regulators are first asking the lender for greater detail and increased staff at the European hub to prove that it will not become an empty shell.

The bank created a dedicated "outsourcing oversight officer" role in Frankfurt, a spokeswoman for Standard Chartered said on Monday, to ensure the entity complies with both German and European rules.

According to Reuters, the company might be forced to move more jobs than originally expected to Frankfurt with the lender having already begun to interview candidates in March for 20 jobs it was moving to Germany.

Back in November 2017, the bank was one of the first of 20 banks to request the license necessary to open a European hub by March 2019.

Other lenders planning to set up new EU hubs included Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland Group..

Lloyds is setting up a subsidiary in Berlin, Barclays will do so in Dublin and RBS chose Amsterdam.