Standard Chartered PLC today announced that Andy Halford has decided to retire as Group Chief Financial Officer and Group Executive Director.

He will be succeeded by Diego De Giorgi who will join the Company on 1 September 2023 as GCFO Designate. Subject to regulatory approval, Diego De Giorgi will be appointed GCFO and will join the Board as GED in the first quarter of 2024. He will be based in London and report directly to the Group Chief Executive, Bill Winters.

Andy Halford will continue as GCFO and GED until regulatory approval is given to Diego De Giorgi and will help ensure a smooth transition. Thereafter, he will continue as a Senior Adviser until he retires on 31 August 2024.

Andy Halford said:

“After nearly ten years restoring the Bank’s operational and financial performance to its previous levels and now with a demonstrable momentum in the business, it is the right time to pass the GCFO role to a new leader. It has been a privilege working with the Board, Bill and the Management Team throughout this time and I am sure Diego will add a new dimension when he comes into the GCFO role.”

Diego De Giorgi was most recently the Co-Chief Executive of Pegasus Europe, Europe’s largest-ever Special Purpose Acquisition Company. Prior to this, he was an independent non-executive director of UniCredit S.p.A. from 2020 to 2021.

From 2013 to 2019, he served in leadership roles at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He was the Co-Head then Head of Global Investment Banking from 2015 to 2019 and the Co-Head of Corporate & Investment Banking for the EMEA region between 2013 and 2015.

Before that, Diego De Giorgi joined Goldman Sachs in 1994 and worked in roles across the Equity Capital Markets and Financial Institutions Groups in London. He later became the Chief Operating Officer for the company’s Investment Banking division prior to departing in 2012.