Further board changes and senior leadership appointments

Standard Chartered PLC (“the Group”) today announces further Board changes and several appointments to key leadership roles.

• Viswanathan Shankar (also known as V. Shankar) (“Shankar”), Group Executive Director, has resigned from the Group to pursue other interests
• Jonathan Paul is appointed as Group Head, Financial Markets
• Sumit Dayal is appointed Group Head, Corporate Finance
• Mark Dowie to become Vice Chair, Clients and Products
• Dr Michael Gorriz is appointed as Chief Information Officer

Shankar, aged 57, Group Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Americas has resigned from the Group to pursue other interests, after a successful career at Standard Chartered spanning 13 years. Shankar will stand down from the Board with effect from 30 April 2015 and leave the Group thereafter. In this context, Shankar will not be seeking re-election to the Board at the forthcoming AGM on 6 May.

As a result of this change, with effect from 1 May the Standard Chartered PLC Board will comprise three Executive Directors – the Group Chief Executive, Deputy Group Chief Executive and Group Finance Director, in line with the Group’s stated intention to reduce the overall board size to 14 Directors in due course.

In addition, the Group is also pleased to announce the following key leadership appointments.

Jonathan Paul joins as Group Head, Financial Markets on 7 April and will be based in Singapore.

Jonathan brings more than 25 years of experience gained across Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Salomon Brothers, in London, New York, Singapore and Hong Kong. He has been based in Asia since 2000 where he has held a variety of leadership roles in financial markets and investment banking.  In 2008, he founded Ardmore Park Capital and ran the hedge fund business as CEO and Chief Risk Officer. More recently, Jonathan also held consulting roles with several asset management firms.

Sumit Dayal is appointed as Group Head, Corporate Finance, with effect from 1 April. He will continue to be based in Singapore. Sumit succeeds Mark Dowie in this role.

Sumit is a veteran banker with more than 25 years of corporate and investment banking experience in Asia. He joined Standard Chartered in July 2004 as Regional Head, Mergers & Acquisitions and Acquisition Financing, based in Hong Kong. In August 2008, Sumit moved to Singapore and assumed the role of Global Head, Leveraged Finance and Equity Capital Markets. 

Mark Dowie, formerly Group Head, Corporate Finance and acting Group Head, Financial Markets, will become Vice Chair, Clients and Products with effect from 7 April. In this new role he will be involved in a range of activities including business development and relationship management with clients across the Group’s footprint. He will move from Singapore to London.

The above appointments have received the necessary regulatory approval.

These appointments follow the announcement last week that Dr Michael Gorriz, formerly Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Daimler AG, will join the Bank during the third quarter of 2015, as Group Chief Information Officer. He will be based in Singapore. Michael’s appointment is a result of the retirement of Jan Verplancke, Director, Group Chief Information Officer.

The process for the appointment of a new Chief Risk Officer, following the announcement of Richard Goulding’s retirement from the Group, is progressing well and an announcement will be made in due course.

Sir John Peace, Chairman, Standard Chartered, said:

“On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Shankar for the service he has given to Standard Chartered over the last 13 years. He has been a valuable member of the Board and Executive Team.

“These new appointments further demonstrate the substantial progress we are making in attracting and developing top leadership talent to the Group.”

Peter Sands, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered, said:

“Shankar has made a significant contribution to the success of the Group, both as Group Head of Origination & Client Coverage, and in his current role. He was also instrumental in establishing and leading our highly successful Corporate Finance and Principal Finance businesses. Shankar has decided to make a change of direction in his career and I wish him all the best.”

Remuneration statement in relation to Board changes

Shankar will cease to be a director of Standard Chartered PLC on 30 April 2015.  The Board Remuneration Committee (“the Committee”) has determined that the following arrangements were fair and reasonable, consistent with its approach to termination arrangements, in line with Shankar’s contractual entitlements and enable Shankar to support actively the transition of responsibilities in due course./

• Shankar will continue to receive his base salary and other elements of fixed remuneration up until mid October 2015 (or such other earlier date which is mutually agreed by both parties)
• Shankar is eligible to a statutory payment on termination provided for by UAE DIFC employment law. This amount is equivalent to approximately USD280,000
• Shankar will not be eligible to receive variable compensation in respect of the 2015 performance period
• Shankar is entitled to 12 months notice under his contract of employment, however the Committee has agreed to waive part of this notice period

The Committee has also decided, given Shankar’s track record of performance over thirteen years including three as a Group Executive Director, to confer good leaver status to allow him to retain any unvested share awards.  All unvested awards will continue to vest over the original vesting periods i.e. there is no acceleration of vesting, and each award will remain be subject to a) malus (i.e. the potential claw-back of any unvested element), b) the future satisfaction of any applicable performance measures and c) relevant non-compete and non-solicit provisions.

For further information, please contact:

Investor queries

James Hopkinson 
Global Head, Investor Relations
+44 20 7885 7151
james.hopkinson@sc.com

Media queries

Simon Kutner
Head of External Communications, Financial & Corporate
+44 20 7885 8696
simon.kutner@sc.com   

Piers Townsend
Head of External Communications, Business & Functions
+6565965101
piers.townsend@sc.com