New StanChart chief Bill Winters seen as right choice to turn bank around
Winters' credibility with regulators outweighs his limited Asia experience
More than five years after falling out with Jamie Dimon, Bill Winters is back in a top role at a big bank, giving Standard Chartered shareholders something to be happy about.
Standard Chartered hired the former joint head of investment banking at JPMorgan Chase as its new chief executive to turn around the Asian-focused lender, which was the worst-performing bank stock in Britain last year. Three directors and the lender's top executive in Asia will also depart, giving Winters scope to reshape the firm and respond to disgruntled investors after two years of falling profit.
The US-born banker will bring credibility with regulators to Standard Chartered, which may outweigh his limited experience in Asia, according to analysts, investors and former colleagues. Since leaving JPMorgan in 2009 after almost three decades at the bank, Winters, 53, has run his own Rothschild family-backed investment firm and written government-sponsored reports on the British financial system and the Bank of England. He has lived in Britain since 1993.
"Winters brings not just his long experience from JPMorgan but also the political nous from his stint on the UK Independent Commission on Banking," said Sandy Chen, an analyst at Cenkos Securities in London, who has a buy rating on Standard Chartered. "These sweeping board changes will clear the way for Winters to lead the major changes the bank needs."
Standard Chartered shares jumped 5.4 per cent in London trading on Thursday, their biggest gain since August 2012.
"He is well qualified for his new job, which will certainly be a challenge," Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the British Parliament's Treasury Committee, said.
"Bill Winters' expertise was highly valued by both the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards and the Treasury Committee."