Standard Chartered bosses give up bank bonuses

Bosses at Standard Chartered have given up their bonuses after profits at the Asia-focused bank fell by more than a third last year.
Standard Chartered, which last week said chief executive Peter Sands would step down in June followed by chairman John Peace next year amid various troubles at the bank, saw net profit slide 37 percent in 2014, the second consecutive year of decline.
The British lender said profit after tax came in at USD 2.51 billion (2.27 billion euros) for the year, down from USD 3.99 billion in 2013 and described the result as "disappointing".
Peace said that "in light of the disappointing performance of the Group, those executive directors on the PLC Board throughout the year came to the conclusion that they should show leadership by not taking any variable compensation for 2014".

The bank's overall bonus pot was down 9.0 percent on 2013.
Peace said "2014 was a challenging year, and our performance was disappointing", but added that the bank took "decisive action" last year to reposition itself for the future.

Operating income fell two percent year-on-year to $18.23 billion while profit before tax stood at USD 5.19 billion, down 25 percent from 2013.
"We faced a perfect storm," Sands said in the statement underlining negative sentiment to emerging markets, a sharp drop in commodity prices and a welter of regulatory challenges.
Sands who has worked at the bank for 13 years said the year's earnings was "one of the more challenging" he's had to explain.