Standard Chartered forms Board Financial Crime Risk Committee

As part of its strategic priority to combat financial crime and its commitment to improving conduct, Standard Chartered PLC (the Group) today confirms the formation of a Board Financial Crime Risk Committee, which will have Board-level oversight of the Group’s financial crime compliance programme.

In addition, the Group is announcing the appointment of nine senior executives to its Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) function in London, Newark, Dubai, Singapore and Johannesburg.

The new Board Financial Crime Risk Committee (BFCRC) is responsible for oversight of the Group’s policies, procedures, systems, controls and assurance for anti-money laundering, sanctions compliance, and prevention of bribery, corruption and tax crime, alongside its oversight of the Group’s financial crime compliance programme including the financial crime risk mitigation programme and its commitments under the 2012 and 2014 Orders.

The BFCRC will assume its responsibilities on 1 January 2015. Its membership comprises the following independent non-executive directors (INEDs):

• Simon Lowth (Chairman)
• Christine Hodgson 
• Naguib Kheraj
• Ruth Markland
• Lars Thunell

In addition to the INEDs, the Group is in the process of appointing three or more external advisors as members of the BFCRC. Each advisor will have experience and expertise in combating financial crime. The Group expects to announce the advisors shortly.

The BFCRC builds and replaces the Board Regulatory Oversight Committee (“BROC”), which has been in place since the beginning of 2013.

Sir John Peace, Chairman of Standard Chartered PLC said: “Over the past two years we have dedicated an enormous amount of resources, investment, training and management attention to our financial crime compliance programmes. The formation of this committee, together with the substantial build out of our financial crime compliance function, demonstrates our commitment to strong conduct and compliance at all levels of the organisation.”

The new hires to the Group’s FCC function follow the arrival in August 2014 of John Cusack as global head of FCC for Standard Chartered. The recent appointments are as follows:

Patricia Sullivan has been appointed head of FCC for the Americas. Ms Sullivan was most recently deputy global head of anti-money laundering compliance for UBS and head of AML and central compliance for the Asia Pacific Region. Prior to her lengthy career with UBS, Ms Sullivan was an assistant district attorney with the New York County District Attorney’s Office. She is based in Newark and reports to the global head of FCC.

Hui Chen has been appointed head of anti-bribery and corruption compliance. In her previous role, Ms Chen was assistant general counsel in the compliance division of Pfizer and earlier in her career was a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. She is based in London and reports to the global head of FCC.

Phil Knowles has been appointed head of FCC for the Middle East region. Mr Knowles was previously a managing director with Fius Capital in Dubai and a partner and head of financial services for KPMG Dubai. He is based in Dubai.

Shane Riedel has been appointed head of FCC for financial institutions and correspondent banking. Mr Riedel was most recently global head of anti-money laundering and sanctions for commercial banking at HSBC. He is based in Singapore.

Mark Nelson has been appointed head of metrics and management information reporting. Mr Nelson was most recently chief of staff and head of AML reporting for compliance and operational risk at UBS.

Bevan Pillay has been appointed head of FCC for Africa. Mr Pillay was most recently pan-Africa head of corporate bank compliance at Barclays Africa. He will be based in Johannesburg.

The following appointments will take effect in early 2015:

Markus Schulz will join as global head of FCC controls. Mr. Schulz was most recently chief compliance officer for GE Capital International. He will be based in London and will report to the global head of FCC.

Jane Brook will join as head of governance for FCC policy and procedures. Ms Brook was most recently global head of financial sanctions and deputy global head of anti-money laundering compliance at UniCredit S.p.A. She will be based in London and will report to the global head of FCC.

Natalie Merrylees will join as head of FCC assurance and monitoring. Ms Merrylees was most recently head of assurance for operational risk and financial crime at Lloyd’s Banking Group. She will be based in London and will report to the global head of FCC.

Throughout 2014, Standard Chartered has made a number of significant enhancements to the capacity and capability within FCC. The Group has nearly doubled its FCC headcount since the start of 2014, and will continue to invest in the space in 2015. The Group has also hired aggressively in front-line financial crime prevention areas such as customer due diligence and second-line transaction monitoring.

As previously announced, Standard Chartered is committed to investing in compliance, conduct and remediation improvements. Investments include systems upgrades, policy development, process improvements, capability building in sanctions compliance and anti-money laundering controls, and combating bribery and corruption.

For further information please contact:

Jon Tracey
Head of External Communications
Standard Chartered
+44 2078857613
jonathan.tracey@sc.com

Julie Gibson
Head of Communications, Conduct and Compliance
Standard Chartered
+1 646 845 1114
+1 917 209 5872
julie.gibson@sc.com