Standard Chartered Appoints Chief Innovation Officer

Press Release

Standard Chartered Appoints Chief Innovation Officer

Bank forges ahead to remain at the forefront of banking innovation with newly created role

Singapore, 11 June 2015 – Standard Chartered Bank’s Group Head of Risk Innovation, Ms Anju Patwardhan, has been appointed as the Bank’s firstGroup Chief Innovation Officer, effective 1 July 2015.

In this new role, Ms Patwardhan will shape the Bank’s strategic innovation agenda across its global network and through different business areas by harnessing a range of new technologies and rapidly advancing data science. This will enable the Bank to better understand its target clients, respond to their needs and innovate to enhance services.

Ms Patwardhan will be based in Singapore and become a member of Standard Chartered’s Technology and Operations Management Group. She will report directly to the incoming Group Chief Information Officer, Dr Michael Gorriz.

Ms Patwardhan will also oversee SC Studios, the Bank’s innovation outpost strategically positioned in San Francisco to scout for the Silicon Valley’s latest technology trends and tap the dynamic startup ecosystem.

Ms Patwardhan will also oversee SC Studios, the Bank’s innovation outpost strategically positioned in San Francisco to scout for the Silicon Valley’s latest technology trends and tap the dynamic startup ecosystem.

This new role will enable Ms Patwardhan to build upon the Bank’s excellent progress in the digital space, existing examples include:

• Standard Chartered named World’s Best Consumer Internet Bank by Global Finance magazine for four consecutive years for excellence in online and mobile banking.
• Through SC Studios, the Bank identified and worked with a Silicon Valley data analytics startup to co-create an entirely new economic index for Nigeria using crowdsourced smartphone data collection. Clients are now using the Nigeria Consumer Price Tracker to track, in real time, previously unavailable consumer price changes.
• Multi-award winning innovation from the Bank, Straight2Bank Mobile Wallet, is enabling NGOs such as Jhpiego, an international health non-profit affiliated with John Hopkins University, to instantly and safely disburse funds to its beneficiaries in Africa previously deprived of access to basic financial services due to infrastructure and economic challenges.

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Mr Jan Verplancke, Group Chief Information Officer, said: “Anju is a distinguished banker with extensive international financial services experience and I’m delighted to announce her appointment as Standard Chartered’s Group Chief Innovation Officer. She will consolidate the excellent progress the Bank has already made and take it to the next level to realise our aspiration of being digital by design,”

“Anju has the depth of experience and expertise required to provide thought leadership on the Bank’s FinTech innovation agenda. I’m confident our business and external stakeholders will value working with her to develop and bring to market innovative ideas and solutions,” he said.

Ms Patwardhan brings more than 20 years of international financial services experience to the role and has been acknowledged by many industry bodies. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Banking and Finance, the nation’s highest financial services industry accolade, and a Fellow of the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics at Singapore Management University – the leading economics think tank in Asia.

Ms Patwardhan received her Bachelor of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and earned her Post-graduate degree in Business Management from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM).

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Standard Chartered

We are a leading international banking group, with more than 90,000 employees and a 150-year history in some of the world’s most dynamic markets. We bank the people and companies driving investment, trade and the creation of wealth across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, where we earn around 90 per cent of our income and profits. Our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, Here for good.

Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges as well as the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges in India.

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