StanChart Sheds Office Space in Hong Kong

Standard Chartered will give up several floors in the main offices of the Hong Kong central business district as banks continue to adapt to the post-covid environment.

Standard Chartered will give up the lease on eight floors of its Standard Chartered Bank Building in the central business district, according to a Hong Kong Economic Times report which cited related marketing materials.

Landlord Hang Lung Properties is asking for about HK$6 million ($770,000) in rental per month for the 60,000 square feet space. The offices will be available between next month and April 2022.

The British lender is also renting out three floors it owns from its offices in Kwun Tong, an industrial district in the eastern part of Hong Kong.

The move falls in line with Standard Chartered’s announced plans to permanently offer flexible work options to around 90 percent of its 85,000 employees around the world. According to the bank, hybrid work arrangements will be made available to around half of its staff in early 2021 and will extend to 75,000 workers in 55 markets by 2023.

While we have been thinking through the issues around the future workplace for some time, it’s inevitable that recent events provided a catalyst, said Standard Chartered’s human resources head Tanuj Kapilashrami in an internal memo.

Vacancy rates amongst the district’s Grade A office are reaching the highest levels in December last year since 2004, according to property services firm Jones Lang LaSalle. And foreign firms are a major contributor with multinational companies making up 75 percent of total surrendered Hong Kong office stock in the last quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Standard Chartered aside, other global banks that have recently shed office space in the main district include BNP Paribas, Nomura, and Macquarie Group. HSBC also said last year that it was considering ways to digitize more of its operations and is seeking to have more employees work from home in the future.