Standard Chartered hires head of private banking
LONDON (Reuters) - Standard Chartered has named Michael Benz as head of private banking. Benz joins the Asia-focused lender after more than 20 years in asset management, private banking and treasury.
He was formerly chairman for Asia at Swiss private bank Julius Baer and prior to that was chief executive of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Asia-Pacific wealth management division.
Benz will be based in Hong Kong and will report to Anna Marrs, who becomes StanChart's head of commercial and private banking clients in April.
StanChart's exposure to emerging markets helped it emerge from the financial crisis relatively unscathed, but in December it warned that its 10-year record of earnings growth would likely end.
To combat the slowdown, the bank combined its wholesale and consumer banking operations, aiming to sharpen its focus and deploy capital more effectively.
(Reporting by Clare Hutchison; Editing by David Holmes)
