Day one message from Bill

Today is my first day as Group Chief Executive of Standard Chartered. I am very excited. Travelling around our offices for the past several weeks has given me a better understanding of our business, our people, our strengths and our challenges.

I’ve reached one clear conclusion: this is a fabulous bank. Our clients want us to succeed; we are determined, ethical and capable; and we are strong in markets that will present outstanding opportunities for decades to come. This truly inspires me.

After a long period of strong growth, the past several years have been challenging for all of you. We have made mistakes and our performance has suffered. Some of the challenges come from the external environment and that is unlikely to change. We must think hard about the challenges that are structural and reposition accordingly. We will do that.

Much of our destiny is firmly in our control and we must act decisively to get ourselves back on the right track. This will not be easy. We need to be more resilient and learn to cope with the tough times ahead, but more importantly than that we need to rebuild confidence – in ourselves and with our stakeholders. We have the people and the network to do this, but we need to rebuild together. We’ll keep you posted as we progress with our thinking and plans.

First and foremost, we must never forget that we are here to serve our clients. If we do that well and efficiently, we will earn a good return. We will organise ourselves with that in mind.

We have a responsibility to the broader communities in which we operate. Our ethical standards must be beyond reproach and we must play a robust role in the global fight against financial crime. That is a key role for any bank in the world today and is one that we will continue to embrace. We must remain Here for good.

We need to reinforce our foundations; streamline our business; strengthen our financial position; and re-orient the Bank for better returns on our capital. Only then will we be positioned for longer-term growth.

Over the coming months, the management team and I will develop a set of plans to address these challenges. My current expectation is that we will be in a position to share more about the leadership team structure following the summer and broader plans by the end of the year. But I’d like you to understand what we hope to achieve and how we intend to go about it.

We will organise ourselves to simplify the way we work together, make decisions and be more efficient. We will have to cut out waste and excess wherever we find it. We can make better decisions, more quickly and more safely if we streamline our organisation. Let’s work together to spot the complexity that slows us down and blunts our edge. Complexity is also expensive and can sometimes have an impact on decision-making.

We must complete the process of making our control environment rock-solid. This is expensive and time consuming but it is the right thing to do. We owe this to ourselves and our communities.

We must focus on what we are really good at to drive good returns. In the future, we need to invest where we are very good or can be very good and divest in areas where we will not be able to build a competitively differentiated position. We must be clear that bigger is not necessarily better.  Rather, more profitable is better and through a greater focus on serving our clients and generating good returns, we’ll have the strength to exploit exceptional opportunities to grow over time. Every decision we take should be viewed through the lens of the return on capital we deploy.

Our capital strength is a key priority. Capital strength is a competitive advantage, especially in tough economic times. We are reviewing all aspects of our capital strength as part of our broader business review.

We will be open and transparent as we work through this process. The objectives are clear and we will share our plans as we reach conclusions. I want you to tell us your thoughts on how we can run the Bank better, serve our clients and communities better, manage our risks and controls better and make ourselves more efficient.

I am focused on the challenges ahead and in making the most of the advantages we have and I am confident we will get back to a position of strength. The potential of Standard Chartered is extraordinary. We have what it takes to be the best at what we do in markets that present exciting and ongoing opportunities. We’ll have to stay really focused on the things that matter. It will take lots of hard work and energy. And it will take time. However, we must not be distracted by these changes but ensure that we all continue to focus on our day jobs this year – we need to be driving improvements in our performance and delivering for our clients. If we can achieve that, we will be able to celebrate our progress and remain proud.

I look forward to working with all of you.

Bill