Standard Chartered FD stripped of risk role

STANDARD CHARTERED finance director Richard Meddings has been stripped of his responsibility for overseeing risk controls at the bank, with chief executive Peter Sands taking over the role.

According to reports, the lender was forced to move oversight of its risk division away from Meddings following pressure from the Bank of England’s financial watchdog, the Prudential Regulation Authority, which is understood to have told Standard Chartered it was “not happy” with Meddings’s role.

A source with knowledge of the talks between the PRA and Standard Chartered told The Telegraph that the regulator was concerned about the potential conflict between Meddings’s finance responsibility and his duty to oversee the risk operations.

Standard Chartered declined to comment on whether the change was subject to pressure from the PRA and said the division would continue to be run by Richard Goulding, its chief risk officer.

“This governance change ensures we are well placed to meet future regulatory requirements,” a spokesperson for Standard Chartered said, adding that the move was part of an “industry trend”.

The PRA declined to comment.