First ever visit by Standard Chartered’s Group CEO

Standard Chartered’s Group Chief ExecutiveBill Winters is on an official visit to Sri Lanka today. It is the first time that Sri Lanka has been graced by the visit of a Group Chief Executive of the international bank and the Sri Lanka branch office is honoured to have the opportunity to showcase the franchise’s long local association to the bank’s top leadership.

Standard Chartered Regional CEO ASEAN and South Asia (ASA) Ajay Kanwal, who visited Colombo last November, will accompany Winters on the visit. They will be meeting with the Minister of Development Strategies and International TradeMalik Samarawickrama, the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri LankaDr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, industry and business leaders, as well as clients and staff, during the visit. 

Standard Chartered Sri Lanka Chief Executive Officer Jim McCabe commenting on the visit stated: “We are truly honoured to host Bill Winters and look forward to introducing Bill to the franchise in Sri Lanka. Standard Chartered counts a presence of over 150 years partnering business enterprise in the island and we are extremely proud of our history and association with Sri Lanka. Bill and Ajay’s visit will be an opportunity for both the bank and business leaders to gain invaluable insights into global banking and economic trends, as well as for staff to have the opportunity to meet the bank’s most senior leadership.”

Winters was appointed to the Board of Standard Chartered PLC as Group Chief Executive on 10 June 2015, having joined the Group in May 2015, and is based in London. He has had a distinguished career in banking, having spent 26 years with JP Morgan in diverse leadership roles, becoming Co-Chief Executive Officer of the investment bank in 2004 until he stepped down in 2009. He was the only career banker to be invited to be a committee member of the Independent Commission on Banking, established by the UK Government in 2010 to recommend ways to improve competition and financial stability in banking.

Subsequently, Winters has served as advisor to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards and was asked by the Court of the Bank of England to complete an independent review of the bank’s liquidity operations. Winters founded the hedge fund Renshaw Bay in 2011 where he was Chairman and CEO until he stepped down from the company on appointment to the Standard Chartered PLC Board. 

Winters was previously a Non-Executive Director of Pension Insurance Corporation plc before stepping down in October 2015.  He is an Independent Non-Executive Director of Novartis International AG.He holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Colgate University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  He was awarded the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2013.