Team size: 70 (London) 

Key team members: 

Global Credit Markets Legal (UK): Justin Fowke, Head of Global Credit Markets Europe Legal; Helen Pinder, Head of Capital Markets Legal, Europe & Americas and Africa & Middle East; John-Paul Reno, Head of Banking & Coverage, Legal for UK, Corporate and Investment Banking 

Group M&A and Corporate Legal (UK): Palwinder Hare, Head of Group M&A and Corporate Legal; Sebastian Diehl, Senior Legal Counsel; Evan Lacey, Senior Legal Counsel; Nisha Shah, Senior Legal Counsel 

Transformation, Strategy and COO (UK): Anjali Dixon, Global Head of Transformation, Strategy and COO; Sue Manik, Head of Supplier Performance & Knowledge 

What significant projects or deals has the legal team worked on in the past year? Can you provide examples of successful outcomes or major accomplishments? 

Standard Chartered’s Legal team plays a significant role in the growth of Standard Chartered’s business, with multi-disciplinary Legal teams delivering the below. 

UK Legal supported the UK Structured Export Finance team on a EUR 300 million Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (“MIGA”) guaranteed term loan to the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Planning of the Republic of Senegal, for an agricultural and food security programme. Standard Chartered was facility agent and mandated lead arranger This transaction supports Standard Chartered’s’ s sustainability agenda. 

UK Legal supported Standard Chartered’s Middle East Capital Markets and Islamic Finance teams on a USD 3.5 billion inaugural Reg S dual tranche issuance of Trust Certificates (“Sukuk”) by The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (“PIF”). Standard Chartered was an underwriter and a Sukuk Structuring Bank. The innovative Sukuk structure paved the way for holding companies (including sovereign wealth funds) with a limited fixed asset base to access the Sukuk markets by utilizing their equity holdings as an acceptable asset class. Group M&A and Corporate Legal led on the sale of Standard Chartered’s global aviation finance business through a highly competitive auction process comprising the sale of the aviation leasing business and a key part of the aviation secured lending portfolio. A successful exit for Standard Chartered was achieved in line with strategic objectives with total overall sale proceeds of c. USD4.5 billion. This transaction was one of the major M&A deals in the global aircraft leasing sector in the past 3 years. 

Group M&A and Corporate Legal led on the multi-jurisdictional exit of certain Standard Chartered markets in Africa to four separate buyers through competitive auction processes. The sale of the Standard Chartered Jordan branch business and sale of Standard Chartered Zimbabwe have completed. Subject to regulatory approvals being received, completion for Standard Chartered Angola, Standard Chartered Cameroon, Standard Chartered Gambia, Standard Chartered Sierra Leone, the retail business of Standard Chartered Tanzania and the retail business of Standard Chartered Côte d’Ivoire are due to complete in 2024. 

Can you sum up the team culture/ethos in one sentence? 

Standard Chartered’s Legal, Corporate Secretariat and Shared Investigative Services (LCS) teams’ ambition is to consistently deliver Bold, Collaborative and Strategic solutions for our clients and stakeholders. 

To achieve this, we’ve launched the Ocademy, a bespoke learning programme designed by our Group Human Resource, LCS Learning and Dan Kayne (the founder of O Shaped). This is a substantial financial and time investment, with all c600 colleagues enrolled. Each colleague will dedicate 20 hours into the programme and are expected to graduate by the first week of August 2024. 

The outcome of this programme is to have our colleagues embrace an O Shaped mindset (Open, Opportunity, Original, Ownership and Optimistic). These traits are based on extensive research conducted by the O Shaped faculty team.