Benz, who was previously the designated chairman for Asia at Julius Baer, takes up his post from 17 February.
His experience spans more than 20 years, including running Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s wealth management operations in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, California, India and Japan. In this role, he was instrumental in the sale and integration of the business into Julius Baer in 2013.
Prior to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Benz spent thirteen years at UBS where he held a variety of roles ranging from head of group treasury for Asia-Pacific between 1997 and 2000, and Asia/Pacific head for products and services at UBS Wealth Management in Hong Kong until 2010.
He will report to Anna Marrs, who becomes group head of commercial and private banking clients from 1 April 2014.
Marrs said: “Standard Chartered’s footprint markets are expected to account for 60% of the global growth in high net worth individuals’ personal financial assets over the next three years. We have a tremendous opportunity to capture this growth, leveraging both Michael’s private banking expertise and Standard Chartered’s strong starting position.”
