Standard Chartered CFO Halford to retire, replaced by former BofA banker

Standard Chartered said on Thursday that Andy Halford has decided to retire as chief financial officer, with former Bank of America investment banker Diego De Giorgi set to replace him.

De Giorgi, who was most recently co-chief executive of special purpose acquisition company Pegasus Europe, will join the company on September 1, the bank said in a statement.

Halford is one of British banking's longest-serving executives, having held the role of CFO since July 2014, helping steer the Africa and Asia-focused bank through a period of extensive restructuring.


De Giorgi, 53, will initially join as CFO designate, before taking on the role formally and joining the bank's board in the first quarter of 2024.

He will be based in London and report to StanChart CEO Bill Winters, who is the longest-serving CEO of a major European bank following Frederic Oudea's exit from Societe Generale in May.

De Giorgi previously held senior roles at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, including head of global investment banking.

Before then, he worked in equity capital markets and financial institutions at Goldman Sachs, rising to become chief operating officer for the investment bank by the time of his departure from the U.S. firm in 2012. He has also served as a non-executive director at Italy's UniCredit.

StanChart in July upgraded its annual profit forecast and announced a $1 billion share buyback, in a sign rising interest rates globally are helping it to boost income after years of flat revenues.

That long period of underperformance has seen the bank's shares fall nearly 30% since Winters took over as CEO in June 2015.