Ajay Kanwal, head of Standard Chartered’s Asean and South Asian operations, has left the bank. He has taken the step after he failed to disclose some details of his past personal investments. Kanwal said some of his disclosures about investments in businesses outside the bank did not meet the company’s “very high standards,” the bank said in a statement. Kanwal’s investments had not affected clients or the economic interest of the bank, and there was no legal or regulatory breach, the bank said. In 24 years with the bank, Kanwal’s roles included managing operations in Korea, Taiwan and Mongolia as a regional CEO. He will be replaced by Anna Marrs, at present heading up commercial and private banking. Meanwhile, Standard Chartered is cutting one in every 10 of its global headcount in corporate and institutional banking in a new effort to reduce overheads to restore its profitability. The job cuts will take place in all of the bank’s major business centers including Hong Kong.
