LONDON-- Standard Chartered PLC Chief Executive Peter Sands on
Thursday said he will step down in June and be replaced by former
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. executive Bill Winters, after months of
disquiet from shareholders and executives over the bank's
leadership.
The London-based, Asia-focused lender said Chairman John Peace
will step down in 2016, and that it will firm up its board with two
new independent directors while three veterans will depart.
Mr. Sands said "now is the right moment" to hand over to Mr.
Winters. "I am delighted that a banker of Bill's calibre will be
leading the group through the next phase of development," he
said.
Mr. Winters, who set up asset management firm Renshaw Bay after
leaving J.P. Morgan in 2009, called Standard Chartered "a special
bank" that he looks forward to helping bring to its full potential.
The 53-year-old American was co-CEO of J.P. Morgan's investment
bank during a 26-year career at the U.S. lender. He also served on
the U.K. Independent Commission on Banking, which played a key role
in reforming Britain's banking sector after the financial
crisis.
While Mr. Winters has been mentioned in the past as a CEO
candidate for other U.K. banks, his appointment Thursday is a
surprise. Despite his impressive resume, he has little direct
experience in Standard Chartered's core emerging markets. Mr. Peace
said Mr. Winters "brings substantial financial experience from
leading a successful global business and has an exceptional
understanding of the global regulatory and conduct
environment."
The long-awaited shake-up at the troubled bank comes after Mr.
Sands and Mr. Peace were privately pressed by some executives and
shareholders to resign, according to people familiar with the
matter.
Standard Chartered for a decade rode a wave of growth in Asian
lending markets. But a slowdown in some of its key markets and
rising regulatory costs have weighed on its results and led some
analysts to question its strategy and capital adequacy.
Mr. Sands for months has said he wasn't going anywhere. He laid
out plans in January to shed thousands of jobs in Standard
Chartered's retail bank and shut its stock-trading business, but
the plans were regarded by many as insufficient to address the
bank's broader problems.
Write to Margot Patrick at margot.patrick@wsj.com
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