Standard Chartered appoints Andreas Meletiou as new chief executive for Iraq

As per a British Bank spokesperson, Andreas Meletiou has been appointed as chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Plc of its Iraq business with immediate effect.
Meletiou is the successor of Gavin Wishart, who left Standard Chartered last year, having been appointed Iraq CEO in 2013. The new head of Iraq operations is Dubai-based and will split his time between that city and Baghdad.

Meletiou is quite familiar with banking operations in Iraq, as he worked on developing the Standard Chartered bank’s strategy for entering the country in 2013. According to bank website, StanChart employs about 20 people in the country across two offices in Baghdad and Erbil.
Prior to his new role, Meletiou has served as head of transaction banking for banks in the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan at StanChart since April 2013. Meletiou has been with the UK bank since 2007.

Standard Chartered has lost several top managers in the Middle East region, with the highest profile departure being that of Viswanathan Shankar, its chief executive officer for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.

Several other figures have also left or are planning to leave the bank, according to reports. This coincides with the company’s drive to scale back its operations in the region, which has created an opportunity for local banks to claim a bigger share of the market.
In today’s trading, Standard Chartered shares were up 0.5 percent at 1,045.00p, as of 13:30 BST. The stock has risen 8.5 percent since the start of the year, boosting the bank’s market valuation to £26.7 billion.