Standard Chartered has named Manus Costello as its permanent Group Chief Financial Officer, promoting the bank's head of investor relations to succeed Diego De Giorgi. Costello has been appointed interim Group CFO with immediate effect and will transition into the permanent role, the bank confirmed on 17 May 2026.
The appointment ends a search that began earlier in the year and closes off a period in which the top finance job at the emerging-markets-focused lender had been held on an interim basis.
COSTELLO STEPS UP FROM INVESTOR RELATIONS
Costello previously led investor relations at Standard Chartered, a role that placed him in regular contact with the bank's shareholder base and equity analysts covering the group. Moving from investor relations into the CFO role is an unusual but not unprecedented step, and gives the bank a finance chief with detailed familiarity with how the market interprets its results and disclosures.
That background positions Costello to take charge of the bank's financial communications at a moment when investors are focused on the delivery of the group's growth agenda and its return on tangible equity targets. Continuity of message between investor relations and the CFO's office will be a natural asset in that context.
Costello's dual appointment — first as interim CFO with immediate effect and then as permanent CFO — signals that the Board wanted to move quickly to establish clarity on leadership of the finance function rather than run a further extended interim period.
SUCCESSION FROM DE GIORGI DEPARTURE
Costello succeeds Diego De Giorgi, who resigned in February 2026 to join Apollo Global Management as head of the alternative asset manager's EMEA business. De Giorgi's move to Apollo marked a high-profile exit from the bank's executive team and triggered the need for a permanent replacement.
Following De Giorgi's departure, Peter Burrill had served as interim CFO from early February 2026. That interim arrangement bridged the period between De Giorgi's exit and the completion of the search that has now concluded with Costello's appointment.
The change comes as Standard Chartered continues to execute its strategy of concentrating on cross-border corporate and institutional banking flows across its network of Asian, African and Middle Eastern markets, alongside its wealth management franchise. The CFO plays a central role in guiding investor communication around progress against those priorities and around capital return commitments.
For Costello, the promotion represents a significant step up from a role that already carried substantial visibility with the group's shareholders. His familiarity with the story that management has been telling the market may help maintain continuity through the leadership change, even as he takes on the wider operational responsibilities of running the finance function.
The bank confirmed the appointment in a statement covered by Reuters and referenced on its own corporate communications channels. The decision to promote from within, and specifically from the investor relations function, avoids the disruption often associated with bringing in an external candidate to a large bank CFO role and gives Costello the opportunity to build on the relationships he has already established with the group's shareholder base. That continuity is a notable feature of the transition.