Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered announced the appointment of Bill Winters, a former JP Morgan investment bank chief, as its new Chief Executive Officer, replacing Peter Sands, the bank said in a statement.

The appointment of Winters came after months of searching for a new CEO that will steer the bank's direction to a profitable future followings two years of troubles.

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The bank has been pressured by its two biggest shareholders - Aberdan Asset Management and Singapore sovereign fund Temasek - citing strategic, governance and operations mistakes.

The shareholders also said Sands had been slow to address troubles of the bank, including a US fine for breaking sanctions to losses on commodities loans.

Based in London, Winters will join Standard Chartered's board in May and will take over from Sands in April.

The appointment of Winters as new CEO of Standard Chartered was immediately welcomed by Aberdeen and Temasek.

Investors also seemed to have welcomed the appointment as the bank's shares jumped five percent when the news about Winters's appointment broke out.

The 53-year-old Winters will receive up to 6.9 million British pounds (USD10.62 million) and up to 4.6 million British pounds (USD7 million) in annual bonus as the bank's new CEO.

Standard Chartered will also grant him shares to compensate for any losses when he leaves Renshaw Bay, the London hedge fund and asset manager he established four years ago.

"From what we know at this point, this is an amazingly astute choice," a Hong Kong analyst said.

Early this month, the Asia-focused bank has also named Mahendra Gursahani as its managing director and CEO for Malaysia, succeeding Osman Morad, who retired recently.

The bank said said Mahendra will report to Lim Cheng Teck, who is Standard Chartered's CEO for ASEAN.

Mahendra joined Standard Chartered 20 years ago and has worked in the different divisions of the bank, including retail banking, corporate banking, credit risk management, asset management, audit, risk and finance.

Osman, the previous CEO, was the group's Malaysia MD and CEO for five years.

TagsStandard Chartered, Bill Winters