Standard Chartered chief to step down in June, ex-JPMorgan banker Winters appointed

Standard Chartered has appointed former JPMorgan investment banking boss Bill Winters as its new chief executive as it confirmed current boss Peter Sands will step down in June.

Winters will receive an annual salary of £1.15m.

In a major reshuffle that will eventually see the board slimmed down to 14 directors, the bank also announced that chairman John Peace will step down in 2016.

Peace said: "Bill is a globally respected banker and has the right experience and skills to drive the group's new phase of growth.

"Peter has made an immense contribution to the success of the group and has had a transformative impact during his 13 year tenure as both group chief executive and previously as group finance director."

Other board changes announced on Thursday morning included the stepping down of Asian chief executive Jaspal Bindra after a 16-year stint, with three long-serving independent non-executives stepping down and replaced by two new independents.

Credit Suisse said the changes amounted to a major leadership renewal that will be "well-received as a sign the company is committed to a more substantial overhaul of its strategy in the medium term".

Nevertheless, CS analysts said they estimate the group could require between $6.9bn-$11bn of capital to cover commodities provisioning and boost capital buffers by the end of 2015 which would then require "substantial overhauling of the strategy as the implied return profile would be an uninspiring 8-9%".

Shore Capital analysts commented: "We view these changes as being an inevitable outcome of a period of notably weak share price and operational performance for the group, which has seen the company deliver three consecutive profit warnings over the course of the past year, or so.

"It is not surprising to us to see that the company has been able to attract a ‘big hitter’ in the form of Bill Winters given its attractive geographic positioning with exposure to some of the world’s fastest growing economies. We view Mr Winter’s vast experience in investment banking as being key to addressing the current operational challenges being faced by the company’s own investment banking operations."

Shares were up 1.74% to 942.3p on Thursday at 08:46.