Standard Chartered makes senior FX appointments

Standard Chartered has bolstered its financial markets business with two new Asia-based appointments in its foreign exchange division. On Friday, the bank said that it had promoted Chris Allington to global head of FX and had hired Neh Thaker as global head, options and platforms.

Allington was most recently regional head of FX, rates and credit for the West. He joined Standard Chartered in 2010 from Goldman Sachs and was previously based in London.

In his newly created role, Allington will take on greater responsibilities across all FX products, and with teams across the bank to deepen client relationships and accelerate the growth of Standard Chartered’s FX business, according to a statement released by the bank.

He will continue to report to Nitin Gulabani, global head of FX, rates and credit, and will be based in Singapore. His appointment takes effect immediately.

Meanwhile, Thaker joins Standard Chartered as global head of options and platforms. In this new position, he will be responsible for overseeing the risks and driving the growth and product development of the bank’s options business across the financial markets operations. He joins from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he has worked his entire career and most recently in a similar global role for structured products.

Thaker is also based in Singapore and reports to Gulabani.

“I am very pleased to have [Allington] take up a bigger role, and at the same time welcome [Thaker] to the bank,” said Gulabani in a statement. “Allington’s experience and knowledge of the bank will allow him to add even more to the FX business, while Thaker’s skills will greatly complement the development of the business going forward.”

Standard Chartered is headquartered in London, but earns around 90% of its income and profits in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It has 1,700 offices in 68 markets, and employs more than 89,000 staff.