Standard Chartered share price: Group reshuffles corporate finance management

Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) is set to reshuffle its corporate finance group, Reuters has reported. In a separate development, the Bank of England (BOE) said that the Asia-focused lender had struggled to pass the latest financial health check, which measured the stability of the UK’s biggest banks against a global economic crash.

Standard Chartered’s share price has been steady in today’s session, having added 0.46 percent to 634.20p as of 13:24 GMT. The stock, however, is underperforming the broader London market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index currently standing 0.86 percent higher at 6,830.02 points. The group’s shares are up by more than 12 percent this year, as compared with about a nine-percent rise in the Footsie.

Sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters yesterday that StanChart was implementing changes to its corporate finance group. The reshuffle will see some senior members of the corporate finance team reporting to global head Sumit Dayal take on additional responsibilities. Another change will see Sanjay Chowdhry, who was global head of leveraged finance, become global head of the newly combined leveraged finance and financing solutions business.

The news comes after earlier this week, reports suggested that the Asia-focused lender was poised to slash about a tenth of its global corporate and institutional banking headcount as part of Chief Executive Bill Winters’ drive to cut costs.
Separately, the BOE announced today that its Prudential Regulation Authority had judged that some capital inadequacies were revealed for StanChart following the latest stress test.
“The scenario for the Stress Test was severe for the Group’s business operations as it includes a synchronised global downturn with particularly severe impact on Asia, as well as a generalised downturn in emerging market economies,” the Asia-focused bank explained in a statement, adding that it had taken steps to strengthen its capital position.
As of 13:47 GMT, Wednesday, 30 November, Standard Chartered PLC share price is 635.80p.