Standard Chartered Puts Compliance Head Neil Barry on Leave

(Bloomberg) -- Standard Chartered Plc said it has placed its head of compliance, Neil Barry, on leave for an unspecified reason.

Tracey McDermott, head of corporate, public and regulatory affairs, is taking over his role temporarily, a spokesman said in response to questions from Bloomberg News. Chief Risk Officer Mark Smith continues to have overall responsibility for the risk and compliance functions, the spokesman added.

Barry joined Standard Chartered in 2009 from Citigroup Inc., initially as global head of legal and compliance for private banking and wealth management in Singapore, rising to group head of compliance under Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters in 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile. He attended law school at New York University.

Winters has been struggling to resolve misconduct issues past and present during his three-year tenure at the Asia-focused lender, from violating U.S. sanctions on Iran to accusations of bribery in Indonesia. In 2016, the CEO introduced a tighter code of conduct, saying senior staff had been flouting ethics rules and saw themselves as “above the law.”

More recently, Bloomberg News reported late last year regulators in Europe and Asia were investigating the role staff may have played in transferring $1.4 billion of private bank client assets from Guernsey to Singapore in 2015 before new tax transparency rules were introduced.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ambereen Choudhury in London at achoudhury@bloomberg.net, Stephen Morris in London at smorris39@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ambereen Choudhury at achoudhury@bloomberg.net, Jon Menon, Paul Armstrong

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.