By Divya Chowdhury

MUMBAI (Reuters: Standard Chartered) Chief Executive Bill Winters believes that the central banks’ efforts to combat rising inflation driven structural cost pressures, such as wage rise, will lead to a “relatively brief and quick” recession in early next year.

Winters said that central banks need to address this problem head-on. On Wednesday, Winters spoke to the Reuters global markets forum (GMF). He added that a strong financial sector supported by consumers and businesses with lower debt will lead to a quicker recovery than the global financial crisis.

“We’ve experienced two real-world stress tests over the last few years, the pandemics and major European wars,” he stated.

Standard Chartered is growing in China, but slower than expected, due to COVID-19 lockdowns, Winters stated at the Temasek annual Ecosperity sustainability conference, which took place in Singapore.

Winters noted that Singapore has returned to its pre-pandemic standards quickly and he expects the bank will return to “good solid and growth in China” and Hong Kong once travel restrictions are removed.

Winters stated that the current job market is extremely competitive. He also said that wages are on the rise. According to Winters, the prospects for future growth are good with bank staff nearing 2019 levels.

It is quite different from Credit Suisse in Switzerland which stated it would increase cost cutting to offset any Q2 losses.

Winters stated that “Given our very hot job market we don’t believe we will need to layoff any significant number of people.”

Winters believes StanChart’s financial and payment markets and cash management business are strong. He said that this will be driven by trade between Asia and the Middle East.

Also, he was positive about emerging markets, especially in South Asia. He expressed optimism regarding the return of capital inflows if the “growth story” in that region is being reestablished as structural.”($1 = 0.7968 pounds)

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