Beng Kiong Pee, head of Southeast Asia bond syndicate for Standard Chartered, has left the bank after seven years to join a competitor.
StanChart declined to comment but Pee told FinanceAsia he would be staying in the same field and would be joining a competitor.
His departure comes after StanChart’s shake-up of its debt capital markets team last year when Peter Szekely, previously global head of high-yield debt capital markets, took on a new role as head of debt capital markets, Southeast Asia, in July.
Also in July, Robert Mason, who was previously head of Southeast Asia high-yield debt capital markets, was promoted to global head of high-yield DCM. In December, Ashish Malhotra was promoted to head of global bond syndicate at StanChart, shortly after joining the bank as head of bond syndicate for Asia earlier last year.
The recent shake-up comes after the bank saw some other departures. In April last year, Yung Tan, who was head of high-yield product group for Northeast Asia and Greater China, and Shu Duan, an associate director, both left to join BNP Paribas, rejoining their former boss Sameer Sopori, who was previously the global head of high-yield at StanChart.
In March 2013, Anthony Arnaudy, head of debt capital markets for Northeast Asia at StanChart, also left the bank after three years. He played a central role in building the firm’s debt franchise in the region from scratch.
The slew of job changes comes at a time when emerging markets growth potential – which constitutes a large portion of StanChart’s profits – is weakening.
StanChart posted its first decline in earnings in a decade due to volatile financial markets and tough conditions in South Korea – where its non-core businesses were put up for sale.
The UK bank’s profit before tax dropped 7% to $6.96 billion last year. The bonus pool was cut 15% to $1.3 billion, with chief executive Peter Sands’ bonus down 21%. The decline came after 10 consecutive years of growth in revenue and profit, with 90% of its profit earned from Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Earlier this year, the bank also announced a merger of its wholesale and consumer banking business, and said layoffs will take place.
Pee joined the bank seven years ago via its management associate programme and moved to join the debt capital markets Asia team at the end of a two-year stint. He was promoted to director in 2012 and subsequently head of Southeast Asia bond syndicate in March 2013.
