Former UK Financial Watchdog's Tracey McDermott Joins Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered has appointed Tracey McDermott, the former acting head of the UK’s financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, to head up its corporate, public and regulatory affairs.

McDermott joins Standard Chartered’s management committee as it proceeds with its restructuring plans to improve its performance. Bill Winters, its chief executive, is reported by the Financial Times to be seeking to shed $100 billion of risky assets, strip $2.9 billion from its annual cost base and cut 15,000 of its 86,000 jobs by 2018.

With jobs high on the agenda, Finance Magnates reported in November that the bank would be cutting around a tenth of its global corporate and institutional banking headcount as part of a strategy to cut costs and improve the bottom line.

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The bank has experienced a tough few years after being fined by US regulators for sanctions breaches and incurring heavy losses on risky loans. Winters said he will tighten Standard Chartered’s compliance and controls, recently warning of his 'zero tolerance' approach.

The list of the bank’s current regulatory woes include US investigations for sanctions breaches and failings in anti-Money Laundering Money Laundering Money laundering is a blanket term to describe the process by which criminals disguise the original ownership and proceeds of criminal conduct by making such proceeds appear to be derived from a legitimate source.Money laundering is an issue that traverses countless industries and sectors, which includes the financial services space. Though criminal money may be successfully laundered without the assistance of the financial sector, billions of dollars’ worth of criminally derived money are laund Money laundering is a blanket term to describe the process by which criminals disguise the original ownership and proceeds of criminal conduct by making such proceeds appear to be derived from a legitimate source.Money laundering is an issue that traverses countless industries and sectors, which includes the financial services space. Though criminal money may be successfully laundered without the assistance of the financial sector, billions of dollars’ worth of criminally derived money are laund Read this Term policies.

Hong Kong authorities are scrutinising its role in a 2009 initial public offering. The FCA, meanwhile, has launched its own probe into Standard Chartered, examining how robust its financial-crime controls were in relation to correspondent banking undertaken beyond Europe.

McDermott left the FCA last year having temporarily led the watchdog after the departure of Martin Wheatley as chief executive following the Conservative election win in 2015. She was at the time in the running for the permanent CEO role but the then Chancellor, George Osborne, announced that she had dropped out of the leadership race and moved Andrew Bailey over from the Bank of England to the FCA instead.

McDermott has been with the FCA since 2001 and is best known for her work as head of enforcement, where she oversaw the now infamous probes into the rigging of Libor and foreign-Exchange Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv Read this Term benchmarks which have resulted in multi-million-pound fines.