Standard Chartered hires FCA's Tracey McDermott

Standard Chartered has appointed the former acting chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, Tracey McDermott CBE, as group head of Corporate, Public and Regulatory Affairs, with effect from 20 March.

Based in London, she will report into chief executive Bill Winters and will join Standard Chartered’s global management team.

McDermott was acting chief exec of the FCA from September 2015 until June 2016. Prior to this, she held a number of senior roles at the FCA with responsibility for the conduct regulation of the UK’s Financial Services sector, including director of Supervision and Authorisations, and director of Enforcement and Financial Crime.

She was also a member of the board of the FCA from April 2013. She was a member of the Financial Policy Committee of the Bank of England, and a non-executive director of the PRA from September 2015 until June 2016.

In her new role at StanChart, McDermott will be responsible for the bank’s global Public Affairs, Sustainability and Communications operations and will work closely with Bill Winters and group chairman José Viñals in strengthening the group’s core regulatory relationships. She will also work with chief risk officer Mark Smith on managing reputational risk.

Steve Atkinson, currently group head of Corporate Affairs, will take up a new role as Winters’ chief of staff with effect from March 20th 2017.

Winters said: “Tracey has played a critical role in shaping and changing behaviours in the UK financial sector. Her strong leadership skills, together with a combined experience of bank supervision, regulation and policy development is outstanding, and she will play a critical role in further enhancing our relationships with regulators and policy makers. Tracey is a great addition to our management team.”

At 1436 GMT, the shares were down 0.7% to 776p.