The chairman of Standard Chartered, Sir John Peace, is in very hot water, as we noted yesterday over remarks he made earlier this month in which he said the bank did not wilfully try to avoid US sanctions with Iran.
He made a humiliating retraction on Thursday in which he said he was wrong and that the bank had indeed engaged in criminal conduct in violating US economic sanction laws.
It would not be surprising if Peace resigns as chairman of the bank. He is also chairman of Burberry and Experian, both of which are FTSE 100 companies.
This goes against the advice of Britain's code on corporate governance which recommends that "boards should not agree to a full-time executive taking on more than one FTSE 100 company non-executive directorship or the chairmanship of such a company". So perhaps it is not surprising that Peace should fall asleep at the wheel every now and again.