Standard Chartered boss denies colleagues are 'impatient' for his exit
Long-serving Standard Chartered boss Bill Winters has denied that ambitious colleagues are ‘impatient’ for him to step aside – after the departure of the bank’s finance chief rattled markets.Diego de Giorgi – who was seen as a front-runner to succeed Winters – quit earlier this month for a senior role at US investment giant Apollo, in a move that sent shares 6pc lower on the day.It raised questions over succession plans at the UK-based, Asia-focused lender. Winters is already Britain’s longest-serving bank boss with more than a decade as chief executive.Speaking to reporters as the bank published annual results, he said the lender had a ‘wide and deep bench of internal successors’ – one of whom had been de Giorgi. Bill Winters has run Standard Chartered for a decade, and is the UK's longest-serving bank bossAnd he gave little further clue about when he might leave, saying he would deliver a strategy update in May ‘and I intend to see it through’, adding that ‘strategies don’t have a beginning point and an end point’.He said he would stay focused on the bank’s long-term future ‘as long as the board will have me and as long as I’m the right person for that job’.Winters added: ‘I don’t know why Diego left – I don’t know whether it was concerns about succession, concerns about whether he was going to be the chosen one, or money or something – but anyway, he’s gone, he made that decision and he was clear about that.‘I have no reason to think that anybody else is impatient about succession inside the bank or outside.’Winters said the board had a ‘robust set of succession plans’ and was in touch with both internal and external potential successors ‘from time to time’.‘They’ll form a judgment on the optimal time to effect a change,’ he addedWinters added: ‘It’s a highly desirable job. Not everybody wants to be a UK bank CEO but if you’re in this realm, it couldn’t be a more interesting place to work.‘I’m not worried about succession at all, although clearly it’s important at this point that I see this part of our strategy through to allay any concerns in the market that there’s any disruption, of which there has been none so far.’It came as the bank reported a 16pc rise in full-year pre-tax profits to £5.2bn thanks to robust performances from its global banking and wealth businesses – falling just short of the £5.3bn expected by analysts.Winters brushed off fears about the impact of tariff disruption, saying: ‘The shifts in trade flows are playing to our strengths.‘Western and Asian companies are diversifying their supply chains and they’re diversifying their supply chains into markets that we serve directly, where our market share is substantial.’DIY INVESTING PLATFORMSAJ BellAJ BellEasy investing and ready-made portfoliosHargreaves LansdownHargreaves LansdownFree fund dealing and investment ideasinteractive investorinteractive investorFlat-fee investing from £4.99 per monthFreetradeFreetradeInvesting Isa now free on basic planTrading 212Trading 212Free share dealing and no account feeAffiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.Compare the best investing account for you
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Standard Chartered boss denies colleagues are 'impatient' for his exit
