Standard Chartered Bank announces formation of a new South Asia Region appoints Jaspal Bindra as in-charge

Company release, January 14, 2005

Mumbai

Standard Chartered today announced the formation of a new South Asia region, which comprise India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, effective 1 March 2005. Jaspal Bindra, currently Global Head of Client Relationships in Wholesale Banking will head the expanded South Asia Region.

The dynamic economies of South Asia provide Standard Chartered excellent opportunities for growth. Standard Chartered Bank is the largest international bank in each of these markets and is ideally poised to capture a large share of the trade flows in the region. The grouping of these countries in South Asia into one region reflects not only the geographic proximity of the markets but underline the shared culture and business synergies that they have with each other.

"I am very happy that Jaspal has agreed to take on this extremely challenging assignment. This reinforces our commitment to the region and our determination to expand therein," said Kai Nargolwala, Group Executive Director. "Jaspal's strategic leadership has been instrumental in growing many businesses across Standard Chartered in several countries including India, in the past and more recently the Wholesale Bank global client franchise," he added.

It may be recalled that prior to moving to Singapore, Jaspal Bindra was the CEO, India Region for Standard Chartered and responsible for the successful integration of the Grindlays business in India and Nepal.

Under the new governance model, the CEOs of India, Nepal, Sri Lanka,Bangladesh and Afghanistan will report to Jaspal who will in turn report to Kai Nargolwala. However, there will be no material change in the day to day operations of the businesses in the countries.

For further information please contact:

Neel Chatterjee, regional head,

Corporate Affairs

Phone no: +91 (22) 2263 4574

www.standardchartered.com