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Carsten Stoehr, Standard Chartered’s global head of financial markets sales, has left the bank for another unnamed financial institution in Hong Kong, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Stoehr left the bank on Monday and has been placed on gardening leave for a six-month period while StanChart sound out a successor, which is expected to be announced in the coming days, the source said.
A spokesman for StanChart did not respond to immediate requests for comment.
The half-Japanese, half-German banker was one of StanChart’s most experienced fixed income executives. He joined the UK-based but Asia-focused bank in June 2012 as its global head of capital markets, before shifting to take on the larger financial markets sales role.
Stoehr has a long affinity with Asia's financial markets. He originally located to Hong Kong with Credit Suisse First Boston (as it was then called) at the end of 1999 to take over its Asia debt capital markets coverage, where he helped to establish the bank’s credentials on a set of prominent international bond issues.
He then shifted to Europe in early 2003 to become its head of Europe DCM. Stoehr performed well in that role, helping to conduct a turnaround in business.
Credit Suisse then moved Stoehr to Japan in 2004 to take advantage of his banking talents and ability to speak fluent Japanese, appointing him to run its fixed income sales and trading operations for the country.
Stoehr was latterly Credit Suisse’s head of Asia-Pacific fixed income, before leaving in November 2011.
Tough times
StanChart has endured a difficult time in recent months. The bank has suffered a set of disappointing financial results, in large part a result of bad loan provisioning. Its protracted difficulties led former chief executive officer Peter Sands to quit in February, and the bank replaced him with former JP Morgan banker Bill Winters.
Since arriving, Winters has embarked on a programme to whittle down StanChart’s costs. This has included the closure of its equities division and equity derivatives and convertible bond units. More recently it announced plans to eliminate 15,000 employees globally after reporting a third-quarter loss of $139 million on November 3.
Fitch cut the bank’s rating from AA- to A+ following the results, citing concerns over asset quality and underperformance.
In recent weeks, StanChart has also conducted a major restructuring of its financial markets division, according to some inside sources.
The bank has seen a number of departures from DCM and fixed income this year. Peter Szekely, the bank’s Hong Kong head of DCM, left in August and has since been appointed head of specialty funds at ANZ. Tammy Leung, a director for high yield, left earlier in the year.
