Standard Chartered Plc has appointed Manus Costello as its permanent group chief financial officer, replacing Diego De Giorgi who resigned in February after nearly three years with the bank. According to the latest reports, Costello will serve as interim CFO with immediate effect and join the board as an executive director, subject to regulatory approval. The appointment comes just ahead of the bank's group strategy update scheduled for Tuesday, where investors are expecting fresh growth plans as the lender enters its next phase following years of restructuring and cost-cutting measures. As per the bank, Costello joined Standard Chartered in 2024 as global head of investor relations and brings 25 years of experience in equity research, having previously been a founding partner and global head of research at Autonomous and spending a decade at Merrill Lynch covering equity research roles in London and New York. Costello will be based in London and report directly to Chief Executive Bill Winters, as reported by Reuters.
Deputy CFO Peter Burrill stepped in to take the job on an interim basis during the transition period, with Costello now replacing him in the expanded role. Alongside the CFO appointment, Standard Chartered also appointed Tanuj Kapilashrami as group chief operating officer with immediate effect, according to the latest reports. Kapilashrami currently serves as chief strategy and talent officer and will take on the expanded role to oversee strategy and group-wide transformation initiatives. Chief Executive Bill Winters praised Costello's contribution, stating he had contributed significantly to the bank's strategic positioning and stakeholder engagement efforts while bringing strong rigour and an entrepreneurial mindset to the role. Winters noted that this will further benefit Standard Chartered as it moves forward into its next phase of growth and delivers on medium-term financial objectives.
The leadership changes come as the bank prepares to unveil an updated set of financial targets at an investor event in Hong Kong this week. The fresh targets are intended to set the bank's course for the years ahead and outline how it plans to grow businesses such as investment banking and wealth management. As reported by Reuters, the bank posted better-than-expected 17% profit gain for the first quarter, buoyed in part as Gulf countries rushed to raise funds via bond issuance, although it logged a $190 million charge to cover expected losses from the Iran war. The management changes are designed to help support the delivery of the bank's medium-term financial objectives as it approaches the end of a revamp during which a slew of cost-effective measures and divestitures were made.
Last month, Standard Chartered posted a 17% increase in first-quarter profit, supported partly by strong bond issuance activity in Gulf countries, according to the latest reports. However, the bank also recorded a US$190 million charge linked to expected losses from the Iran war. De Giorgi left the Asia and Africa-focused lender earlier this year to join Apollo Global Management as head of the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, having been viewed as a key figure behind the bank's cost-cutting effort and considered a potential successor to CEO Bill Winters. Winters is the longest-serving banking chief among large British banks since he took the role in 2015.
