Standard Chartered has pulled off a recruitment coup in hiring former JPMorgan investment bank boss Bill Winters to replace chief executive Peter Sands, in a major management overhaul following two years of problems.
Investors led by Aberdeen Asset Management with a 8 per cent stake had been pushing behind the scenes for a change at the helm of the Asia-focused bank citing strategic, governance and operational mistakes, and saying Sands had been slow to address troubles including a US fine for breaking sanctions to losses on commodities loans.
The bank's two biggest shareholders, Singapore sovereign fund Temasek and Aberdeen, welcomed the changes which will also see Chairman John Peace leave next year.
Mr Winters, 53, who has dual US and UK citizenship, will join Standard Chartered's board in May and take over from Sands the following month. He will be based in London, where he has lived for the past 22 years. He will be paid up to £6.9 million pounds including up to £4.6m in annual bonus.
He will be granted shares to compensate him for any losses when he leaves Renshaw Bay, the London hedge fund and asset manager he founded four years ago named after a bay on a lake in New York State where his grandparents have a cabin. Standard Chartered declined to say how much the compensation could be.
"From what we know at this point, this is an amazingly astute choice," said Jim Antos, a Hong-Kong based analyst at Mizuho Securities Asia.
He said Winters could force "real change" at the bank and has strong credibility with US and UK regulators, "which is exactly what the bank needs".
Standard Chartered shares jumped 5 percent on the news of the appointment before trimming gains amid concerns the bank is now more likely to launch a rights issue to address concerns about its capital strength.
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