Standard Chartered will close up to 100 retail branches as part of a plan to save millions of dollars to boost"disappointing" profits and appease disgruntled shareholders as the bank's management comes under increasing pressure. The emerging-markets bank, which has issued three profit warnings in the past year, plans to shut between 80 and 100 of its 1,248 branches across Asia, Africa and the Middle East next year, in a drive to hit a previously-announced $400m cost-savings target next year. Andy Halford, finance director who joined the bank five months ago, said in the first of a three-day presentation to investors, who have endured a 30 per cent share price fall this year, that the bank has "refreshed and sharpened" its strategy. Of the $400m cost-saving measures, around $200m is expected to come from the retail banking division, which includes the branch closures, according to people familiar with the situation. But pressure is building on management to be more aggressive with its cost-cutting after it reported its third profit warning in a year in October. The bank's cost-to-income ratio in the first half of this year, excluding consumer finance, stands at 67 per cent. "We recognise our recent performance has been disappointing and are determined to get back on to a trajectory of sustainable, profit growth, delivering returns above our cost of capital," said Mr Haldane said in a presentation slide. Peter Sands, who has led Standard Chartered for eight years, has faced increasing criticism from shareholders over poor performance, with the bank recently reporting a fall in third-quarter profits of 16 per cent to $1.53bn. Ian Gordon, analyst at Investec Securities, said there was "not much to get excited about" in the 156-page presentation on the first day of the Hong Kong-based roadshow.