Standard Chartered's two largest investors have told the bank's chairman to find a replacement for Chief Executive Peter Sands within months, the Sunday Telegraph reported, without citing its sources. The newspaper said Temasek and Aberdeen Asset Management, which between them own nearly a third of the bank's shares, had separately made it known to John Peace in the last few weeks that a succession plan for Sands must be put in place so he can leave by the end of the year.
Sands, who has been CEO of the Asia-focused bank since 2006, has come under increasing pressure after a troubled two years in which falling commodity prices and a slowdown in growth in many of its core emerging markets have contributed to an abrupt halt to a decade of record profits.