Standard Chartered CEO Winters buys US$1.5 million of bank shares

[LONDON] Standard Chartered Plc chief executive officer Bill Winters bought 1 million pounds (S$2.2 million) of shares in the bank, a week after seeking US$5.1 billion from investors and unveiling his revised strategy for the Asia- focused lender.

Mr Winters, 54, acquired 168,000 shares at 599 pence each, increasing the number he owns to 229,035, according to a statement on Friday. He'll also spend another 300,000 pounds buying shares in the rights offering, the company said. Chairman John Peace bought 295,600 pounds of stock and four other executives also purchased shares.

"Last week we outlined our strategy to create a lean, focused and strongly capitalised bank that is positioned for long-term and sustainable growth," Mr Winters said in an e-mail.

"For me personally, I think this is a great investment and further aligns me with our shareholders."

Mr Winters, 54, is seeking to reverse some of his predecessor Peter Sands's revenue-focused expansion across emerging markets, which left the bank saddled with bad loans when commodity prices slumped and economies from China to India cooled.

On Nov. 3 the bank announced 15,000 job losses to help save US$2.9 billion by 2018, scrapped its dividend and said it would restructure or exit $100 billion of assets after an unexpected third-quarter loss.

Standard Chartered was little changed at 581.8 pence at 10.24 am in London, less than the price Mr Winters bought stock at. The stock has slumped 40 per cent this year giving the company a market value of 14.8 billion pounds.

BLOOMBERG