Standard Chartered’s Asean head Kanwal resigns over personal loans given to ‘close associates’

ON MONDAY, KANWAL SAID SOME OF HIS DISCLOSURES ABOUT INVESTMENTS DIDN’T MEET THE “VERY HIGH STANDARDS” OF THE COMPANY

said.

On Monday, Kanwal said in a statement issued by Standard Chartered that some of his disclosures about investments in businesses outside the bank didn’t meet the company’s “very high standards”.

“Though I do not own these investments any more, as a senior leader my actions should be beyond reproach,” he added in the statement.

Kanwal was unavailable for comment on Tuesday.

The source said Kanwal’s loans had been repaid , and that these had not affected the bank’s business in any way.

Standard Chartered chief executive Bill Winters on Monday said Kanwal’s investments hadn’t affected clients or the economic interest of the bank. There was no legal or regulatory breach, the bank said in an e-mail to Bloomberg News on Monday.

The source said there was a “gap in the paperwork” as these loans were not reflected in Kanwal’s previous declarations.

The source further pointed out that once the matter was brought to Kanwal’s attention, he decided to resign in keeping with a new policy that Winters has put in place.

In memos to staff this year Winters said the bank would take a “zero tolerance” policy on com pliance issues after discovering transgressions concerning some employees’ outside business interests, financial dealings with co-workers and excessive expenses.

Kanwal had spent 24 years at Standard Chartered and was part of its turnaround team.