Monday 20 July 2015 3:02 am

Standard Chartered share price rises as Bill Winters confirms management shakeup

New chief executive Bill Winters has barely been at the helm of Standard Chartered a month, but he's already made his presence felt after the bank confirmed a shakeup of its management team this morning.

Shares in the bank rose one per cent to 1,027.3p as the market opened, after the bank said simplifying its organisational structure "will improve accountability, speed up decision making, reduce bureaucracy and play a key part in delivering the previously announced $1.8bn (£1.2bn) of cost savings by the end of 2017".

Rumours Winters was preparing to reshuffle the management team so the heads of the bank's seven divisions report directly to him, rather than to his deputy, Mike Rees, were reported over the weekend.

This morning Standard Chartered said the new structure will mean its 13-strong management team will report to Winters, comprising "three group executive directors, plus client and regional chief executives and functional heads".

Meanwhile, Winters will assume responsibility from Rees for its corporate and institutional banking, commercial and private banking and retail banking arms at the beginning of October, while Rees will take control of brand and marketing and chief financial officer Andy Halford will take responsibility for group investor relations, corporate real estate services and global sourcing.

The bank added that its regional structure will be reduced from eight regions to four – Greater China and north Asia, Southeast and South Asia, Africa and the Middle East and Europe and the Americas.

"The group needs to kick-start performance, reduce its cost base and bureaucracy, improve accountability, and speed up decision making," Winters said.

"The new structure will help achieve all of these critical objectives and will be in place as we communicate a comprehensive plan to address the group's performance by the year end."