Standard Chartered names new CEO
Bill Winters to take over as bank’s chief in June to replace Peter Sands, after investors demanded a change
Standard Chartered said former JPMorgan investment bank boss Bill Winters will take over as chief executive in June to replace Peter Sands, after investors demanded change at the helm following two years of problems.
Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered said yesterday Chairman John Peace will also leave next year, and named other changes to its board in a massive overhaul in management following problems ranging from a US fine for breaking sanctions to a jump in losses from commodities loans.
Winters, 53, is one of the most respected bankers in the industry and has wide experience of investment banking and regulatory issues. Standard Chartered shares jumped 3 per cent on the news of the appointment.
He will join the Standard Chartered board in May and take over from Sands the following month, and be based in London, where he has lived for the past 22 years.
Winters joined JPMorgan in 1983 as a trainee in New York and moved up the ranks to become co-CEO of its investment bank from 2004 until 2009, when he left following a falling out with Chief Executive Jamie Dimon.
Winters then became one of five members of a British government commission that analysed how banks could be made structurally safer. The panel’s recommendations that firms should separate their domestic retail banking operations is being implemented.
Right experience
“Bill is a globally respected banker and has the right experience and skills to drive the Group’s new phase of growth,” said Peace, who said he will remain in his role until next year to help Winters’ transition.
Investors started calling for change at the top of Standard Chartered last year, citing strategic, governance and operational mistakes, and saying Sands had been slow to address problems and had not gone far enough in cutting costs.
Three of the bank’s top 30 investors said in December that Sands should be replaced in 2015.