London — Standard Chartered could be put up for sale should CEO Bill Winters’s plans to restore profitability falter, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which upgraded the Asia-focused bank to a buy. "We believe it would be an option available to management and the board to consider" if Standard Chartered struggles to compete, analysts led by Alastair Ryan wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday, upgrading the bank from neutral. "Management will seek to pull levers organically, but further cost cuts are not a natural option -– the value of the group is in the network, which we believe to now be fairly costed. Therefore, in our view, a sale remains a possibility." Incoming US president Donald Trump’s administration may be more friendly to global bank mergers, and dealmaking may be encouraged as Basel 3 rules are finalised, removing uncertainty about capital levels, the analysts wrote. They did not name any potential merger partners.
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