StanChart’s embattled chairman, CEO to step down in board shake-up

LONDON — Asia-focused British bank Standard Chartered has announced a dramatic exodus of senior management that will see both its under-fire chief executive and chairman leave the struggling bank, after investors demanded change at the helm following two years of problems.

Mr Peter Sands, who was appointed chief executive in 2006, will leave the bank in June, it announced yesterday.

He will be replaced by Mr Bill Winters, the former co-chief of JP Morgan Chase’s investment bank and one-time heir apparent to the American bank’s long-time boss, Mr Jamie Dimon.

Mr Sands’ departure comes months after he told investors in Asia in November that he was not going anywhere.

Mr John Peace, its chairman who has been criticised, will also stand down, albeit next year to allow time for Mr Winters to settle in.

The bank’s three longest serving non-executive directors will also leave, while Mr Jaspal Bindra, the head of the bank’s Asian operations, will step down from the board.

The dramatic news comes less than a month after reports surfaced that the bank’s two largest investors, Temasek and Aberdeen Asset Management, had told Sir John that a plan to replace Mr Sands must be enacted by the end of this year.

Mr Sands, 53, is leaving the bank after he failed to reverse a slump in shares over the past two years, eroded by a drop in earnings that ended a decade of growth.

While the CEO last month announced the most aggressive cost cuts since taking over the job in 2006, he failed to convince investors.

The changing of the guard was immediately welcomed by investors.

“Sands was an absolute disaster and the chairman was asleep when it was his job to replace the CEO,” said Mr David Fergusson, chief investment officer of Singapore-based Woodside Holdings Investment Management, who owns the bank’s shares.

“Bill Winters is a good choice, a proper banker. It’s extremely good they didn’t pick someone internal,” said Mr Fergusson.

Temasek, the bank’s largest shareholder with a 17.7 per cent stake, said that it welcomes efforts to “revitalise” the board.

It added that Mr Winters “brings with him considerable experience as well as an excellent reputation for building good teams”.

Temasek warned that the board refresh must not stop at today’s series of announcements: “This ongoing process for board renewal must continue as the requirements and challenges facing the banking and financial sector across the world have become much more complex and onerous.”

StanChart’s shares jumped as much as 5.2 per cent in early trade in London. They decreased about 29 per cent last year. Agencies