Standard Chartered has beefed up its retail banking team with two senior appointments to newly created roles.
The UK-based emerging markets bank has appointed Chris Bayliss as head of personal segments and Anders Carlstrom as head of digital banking.
Both will be based in Singapore and report respectively to Euan Campbell, head of segments, and Chris De Bruin, group head of integrated distribution.
Bayliss, who joined in early January, is responsible for designing client experiences to attract and serve emerging affluent clients across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
He told FinanceAsia he was excited at the “huge growth opportunities” ahead.
With the rapid growth of emerging affluent group in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, he said there were an unprecedented number of people who require more and better financial services to achieve their aspirations.
“These largely young and mobile-savvy clients are now expecting Apple-like experience from their banks. We aim to design an engaging banking experience to attract them and deepen our relationships with them,” Bayliss told FinanceAsia.
Bayliss has more than 28 years experience of general management in the retail and business banking sector, during which time he has led risk and operational functions across retail products and customer segments.
He joins from New Zealand Racing Board, where he was chief executive. Prior to this he held a number of senior roles at National Australia Bank, including executive general manager of retail banking.
Carlstrom, who joins on February 9, will drive strategy to deliver client-led digital experience across the bank’s digital channels, based on client requirements and preferences.
He joins from Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, the Swedish financial group, where he was head of digital channels for the retail business in the country. Prior to this he worked as a consultant for Accenture and McKinsey.
StanChart is in the process of reorganizing its retail clients business to focus more on affluent clients.
The business serves more than 10 million individual and business clients across more than 30 markets in Asia, Africa and Middle East, according to the bank.
“[StanChart] aims to take advantage of being present in some of the fastest-growing cities in the world, where the affluent and soon-to-be affluent are concentrated and we can do much more with these clients,” a StanChart spokesperson told FinanceAsia.
Hires
The moves are the latest in a busy period for the UK bank.
StanChart this month appointed Aaron Russell-Davison as head of debt capital markets with immediate effect.
Russell-Davison, formerly head of capital markets for Asean, will continue to be based in Singapore. He replaces Henrik Raber, who was promoted to global head of capital markets in August and who Russell-Davison now reports to. Raber is also based in Singapore.
The bank also this month named Alison May Chan as managing director, ultra high net worth solutions (UHNW), private banking clients for Greater China.
The appointment took effect on January 12 and the role is a new one for the bank, reflecting its increasing focus on the UHNW segment.
In recent months, the UK-based emerging markets focused bank has been hiring within that segment, having appointed Rahul Raswant as executive director, UHNW private banking clients, and Richard Pattle as vice-chairman, private banking clients in the third quarter of 2014.
StanChart has otherwise had a tumultuous start to 2015 after announcing it would abandon its loss-making global equities business following a difficult five-year expansion.
It closed its global institutional cash equities, equity research and equity capital markets businesses, and said it would cut 4,000 jobs in its retail division.
