Standard Chartered’s new finance boss is on £1.1 million a year – plus a £110,000 pension allowance
Key Points
- Standard Chartered set new Group CFO Manus Costello's base salary at £1,100,000 in cash, plus a £110,000 pension allowance worth 10% of base
- Costello became interim CFO on 17 May 2026 and was confirmed in the role on 15 July, after Diego De Giorgi stepped down on 10 February
- The salary matches what De Giorgi was paid, keeping the CFO base flat through the handover
- CEO Bill Winters is on £1,530,000, with a shareholding worth 5,289% of salary against a 500% requirement
- The disclosure came alongside record first-half results: income of $11.6 billion, profit before tax of $4.8 billion and a 66% dividend increase
Standard Chartered has set Group Chief Financial Officer Manus Costello’s base salary at £1,100,000 a year in cash, with a pension allowance of £110,000, according to the bank’s half-year report for 2026, published on Wednesday (29 July).
Costello will also continue to receive core benefits in line with the approach the bank applies to its UK employees, and he is eligible for discretionary variable pay under the directors’ remuneration policy shareholders approved at the 2025 annual general meeting on 8 May 2025.
His first long-term incentive plan award will be granted during 2026. The bank did not disclose a figure for that award.
Costello took the role in two stages across the first half of 2026.
Diego De Giorgi stepped down as executive director and Group Chief Financial Officer on 10 February. Standard Chartered appointed Costello as interim Group Chief Financial Officer with immediate effect on 17 May, and confirmed him as Group Chief Financial Officer and executive director on 15 July after receiving regulatory approval.
De Giorgi held the same £1,100,000 base salary before he left, so the bank has kept the CFO salary flat through the handover.
De Giorgi must maintain his shareholding in the company for two years following his resignation, and held 103,449 shares at 30 June against a requirement set at 400% of salary.
What the CEO earns
Group Chief Executive Bill Winters draws a base salary of £1,530,000, around 39% more than the CFO role.
Winters held 3,431,752 shares beneficially at 30 June and a total of 3,964,861 shares counting towards his shareholding requirement, which the bank sets at 500% of salary. That holding was worth 5,289% of his salary at the 30 June closing share price of £20.41.
Winters also holds 1,717,519 unvested share awards still subject to performance measures. The final assessment of the 2023 to 2025 long-term incentive plan award landed at 85% in March 2026, based on return on tangible equity, relative total shareholder return and strategic measures, with the remaining 15% lapsing.
Impressive results
Standard Chartered reported record operating income of $11.6 billion for the first half, up 6% year-on-year, and profit before tax of $4.8 billion, up 9%.
Earnings per share rose 17% to 151.6 cents and return on tangible equity reached 17.6%, up 120 basis points. The cost-to-income ratio improved to 54.6% from 57.3%.
The board recommended an interim ordinary dividend of 20.4 cents a share, or $448 million, up 66%, and declared a further share buyback of up to $1.0 billion.
The common equity tier 1 ratio stood at 14.2%. Costello also confirmed revised full-year guidance, with operating income growth expected around the middle of the 5% to 7% range at constant currency and expenses excluding notable items at around $13.3 billion.
