Standard Chartered is looking to sell its retail business in the Philippines, part of a wider bid by embattled CEO Peter Sands to cut costs and shrink the bank's asset base, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The London-listed bank, which entered the Philippines in 1872, would continue to operate its corporate banking business in the country to focus on top clients such as San Miguel, the nation's biggest conglomerate, the source said.

A spokesman for Standard Chartered said the bank would "not comment on speculation". The source declined to be identified as the matter is not yet public.

Standard Chartered's assets in the Philippines total $1.72 billion, according to the country's central bank. It currently has five branches and over 500 employees in the Southeast Asian nation, according to the bank's website. Two-thirds of those employees are in its retail business, the source said.

It was not immediately clear how much the retail business would fetch, as no breakdown of StanChart's retail assets in the Philippines is available. It could be left with one branch if the sale goes ahead, the source said.

Sands is under pressure from investors to reverse a two-year decline in the bank's fortunes that have seen its shares lose 46 percent of their value in the last two years. Some are calling for him to be replaced.

The CEO has been shuttering businesses where the lender had failed to achieve sustainable scale. Last month StanChart closed the bulk of its global equities business and said it would ax 4,000 jobs in retail banking.

In December Standard Chartered sold its Hong Kong and Shenzhen consumer finance businesses to a consortium that included China Travel Financial Holdings, U.S. hedge fund York Capital Management Global Advisors and financial firm Pepper Australia Pty Ltd.

The sale could attract bids from Philippine lenders who dominate the local banking business and further a government-backed goal of bringing consolidation to the domestic banking sector.

Antonio Moncupa, president of Philippines' EastWest Banking Corp, said his firm would consider a bid for StanChart's retail banking assets.

"We will surely consider. But we need to see the bidding process details first in making a decision," he told Reuters on Tuesday.

The country's deputy central bank governor, Nestor Espenilla Jr, said in July smaller players in the country's overcrowded banking market would need to grow, combine with a local player or sell out..

The country's largest lender, BDO Unibank Inc, bought Citibank's thrift bank unit in the country in late 2013.

Standard Chartered's Philippines unit ranks as 18th biggest in the country in terms of assets, trailing foreign banks such as Citibank which is at number 11. The top three local banks BDO Unibank, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co and Bank Of the Philippine Islands control 43 percent of the country's banking assets, according to central bank data.

Atiur Rahman, governor of Bangladesh Bank, speaks at the opening of a two-day training programme for economic reporters co-organised by the Economic Reporters' Forum and BB, at the central bank office in Dhaka yesterday.

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has moved to amend the Bank Deposit Insurance Act 2000 to double bank's coverage for depositors' funds, Governor Atiur Rahman said yesterday.

“We have recently sent a proposal to the finance ministry in this regard,” he said at the inaugural of the Information for Deposit Insurance Premium Assessment software at the central bank.

The software was developed by engineers of the central bank to digitise the calculation of insurance premium instead of a manual system.

The regulator has proposed to double the deposit coverage from the current Tk 1 lakh per depositor to Tk 2 lakh for the same.

“If the new law is approved, depositors' money will be better protected and the financial sector will be strengthened,” Rahman said.

Non-banking financial institutions will fall under the purview of the new deposit insurance law, he said.

The deposit insurance scheme was introduced in Bangladesh in 1984 to minimise the risk of loss of funds deposited with banks. In accordance with Bank Deposit Insurance Act 2000, premium collected from the insured banks and all other receivables are put in an account called the Deposit Insurance Trust Fund, maintained at the Bangladesh Bank.

According to the scheme, premium rates depend on the performance of the banks. Problem banks pay 0.10 percent premium, banks under early warning system 0.09 percent and the rest of the banks are required to pay 0.08 percent.

The total amount under the DITF now stands at Tk 3,661 crore, according to BB.

Earlier, the governor launched a two-day training programme for economic reporters at the BB, co-organised by Economic Reporters' Forum and the central bank.

Rahman hoped the training will help reporters write fact-based objective reports.

Biru Paksha Paul, chief economist of the BB, also spoke.

The 606th meeting of the executive committee (EC) of Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited was held recently in the city. Chairman of the EC of the bank Akkasuddin Mollah presided over the meeting. Among others, Vice-chairman of the EC, director and Managing Director Farman R Chowdhury were present in the meeting.

The 472nd meeting of executive committee (EC) of the board of directors of Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited was held in the city on Monday. Chairman of the EC Abdus Samad presided over the meeting. Vice chairman, members and Managing Director of the bank Md Habibur Rahman were present in the meeting.

Social Islami Bank Limited (SIBL) and Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO) recently signed an agreement regarding collection of electricity bill of DESCO through the bank. Deputy Managing Director of SIBL AMM Farhad and Company Secretary of DESCO Md Shofiqul Islam signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations. Senior Executive Vice President of SIBL Md Shafiqul Islam and Managing Director of DESCO Brig Gen Md Shahid Sarwar were present at the signing ceremony.