Standard Chartered bank says CEO to depart

LONDON: The CEO of Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered will step down in June, the company said, following poor results, job cuts and fines for failing to detect possible money-laundering.
“Peter Sands will stand down from the board and as group chief executive in June 2015,” the British bank said in a statement, adding that he would be replaced by JPMorgan investment bank’s former co-CEO Bill Winters.
The emerging markets lender added that chairman John Peace will also leave during the course of next year, allowing time for Winters to settle into his new role.
Peace praised Sands, who has been chief executive since 2006, saying he had presided “over a period of huge change and challenge for the entire industry.”
“Bill is a globally respected banker and has the right experience and skills to drive the group’s new phase of growth,” he said.
The bank was under pressure from shareholders and the move was welcomed on the London stock exchange, where its shares jumped 2.15 percent to 946.20 pence in midday deals on the rising FTSE 100 index.
“Bill Winters is an inspired choice and his experience with JPMorgan will be invaluable in building on Standard Chartered’s strong foundations,” said Martin Gilbert, chief executive at Aberdeen Asset Management, one of the bank’s biggest shareholders.
“At its core it is a very good bank with a presence in some of the fastest growing parts of the world,” he added.
The group last month said it would close a swathe of its global equities business and axe 2,000 jobs around the world this year as it tries to make savings of $400 million (352 million euros) as part of a structural overhaul.
Standard Chartered, which makes 90 percent of its profits in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, saw its net earnings fall 16 percent in 2013 as it faced increased competition in Asia and troubles turning around its South Korean unit.
In August last year, New York state’s banking regulator hit the troubled bank with a $300 million fine and restrictions on its dollar-clearing business for failing to detect possible money-laundering.
The punishment came two years after the bank paid US regulators $667 million in 2012 to settle charges it violated US sanctions by handling thousands of money transactions involving Iran, Myanmar, Libya and Sudan.
The lender’s 2014 results are scheduled for publication on March 4.