By Margot Patrick 

LONDON -- Standard Chartered PLC tapped International Monetary Fund official José Viñals to be its next chairman, after searching for more than a year to replace the departing John Peace.

Mr. Viñals will start in October and officially take over the role from Mr. Peace on Dec. 1.

Naguib Kheraj, the Standard Chartered director who led the search for a new chairman, will become deputy chairman, the bank said.

Mr. Viñals, all but unknown in British banking circles, is currently the financial counselor and director of the monetary and capital markets department of the IMF. An economist and former academic, he joined the IMF in 2009 after rising to deputy governor in a 25-year career at the Bank of Spain.

While at the IMF, he was dubbed "Dr. Doom" by some staff for his work in ferreting out risks to the global financial system. His chief product, the semiannual Global Financial Stability Report, became a must-read for economists, analysts, bankers and fund managers.

Standard Chartered announced in February 2015 that Mr. Peace would leave the bank in 2016. But the search dragged on for months longer than expected as it proved difficult to find candidates willing to globe-trot and help oversee the bank's restructuring.

"José brings deep and extensive economic, political and regulatory experience of our markets and an exceptional grasp and understanding of the international financial system," Chief Executive Bill Winters said.

Mr. Winters replaced former CEO Peter Sands last year, in a changing of the guard at the bank after a decade of rapid growth ended abruptly with a sharp rise in bad loans. Mr. Peace will be the last top official from that earlier era to leave the bank.

In his new job, Mr. Viñals will help oversee a yearslong restructuring being carried out by Mr. Winters and other new managers. Standard Chartered is trying to reinvent itself as a smaller and more focused lender after overextending itself in areas such as energy and mining.

Mr. Viñals "is a valuable addition to STAN, which has in recent years faced the challenges of a tougher regulatory environment," analysts at Citigroup wrote in a note.

But while Mr. Viñals has vast experience in financial stability and banking oversight, he doesn't have commercial-banking experience, Standard Chartered officials confirmed.

Since the near-collapse of Cooperative Bank PLC in 2013 under a chairman with almost no business experience, the Bank of England has required any bank chairman to have worked in financial services, although not necessarily in the private sector.

Mr. Kheraj and Mr. Winters told journalists on a call that Mr. Viñals's lack of commercial experience wouldn't be a problem, because he brings other attributes to the job, such as having worked with central banks and finance ministers around the world.

At the IMF, Mr. Vinals advocated a closer union among European banks to guarantee customer deposits and urged struggling banks to address the elevated levels of bad loans on their books. He also called for China, a major market for Standard Chartered, to develop a regulatory regime commensurate with its increasingly complex financial sector.

Mr. Viñals' "personal chemistry and fit is very good with our team, " Mr. Kheraj said. He said his own ascension to deputy chairman wasn't required by regulators to approve Mr. Viñals's appointment.

Mr. Kheraj had previously ruled himself out of becoming chairman.

The IMF said Wednesday that Mr. Vinals wanted to return to Europe from Washington for family reasons. He will be based at Standard Chartered's headquarters in London.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Mr. Vinals's selection for the chairman job shows "the very high regard in which he is held -- for his experience, capabilities, and insights on financial issues."

"I have personally come to rely on his sharp intellect, analytical rigor, and ability to get to the heart of complex matters," Ms. Lagarde said.

--Gabriel T. Rubin and Ian Talley contributed to this article.

Write to Margot Patrick at margot.patrick@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 27, 2016 16:42 ET (20:42 GMT)

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