Standard Chartered

People on the Move: EIF, Barclays, Standard Chartered, and Julius Baer

Home Banking People on the Move: EIF, Barclays, Standard Chartered, and Julius Baer

This article appears in the September 2026 issue of Global Finance Magazine.

Jean-Christophe Laloux, EIF

The European Investment Fund (EIF) has appointed Jean-Christophe Laloux as its next CEO, effective Jan 1. He will succeed Marjut Falkstedt, who plans to retire. 

Laloux currently leads the European Investment Bank’s lending and advisory operations in the EU and has spent more than two decades at the EIB. He has helped develop financing tools for high-growth technology companies, infrastructure, climate projects, and private-sector investment, including venture debt, risk-sharing mechanisms, and project finance. 

EIF Chair Nadia Calviño praised Laloux’s track record in developing innovative financing tools to support Europe’s technological competitiveness. Before joining the EIB in 1999, Laloux worked at Boston Consulting Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers. —Anthony Noto


Mike Jool and Adeel Khan
Mike Jool and Adeel Khan, Barclays

Mike Jool and Adeel Khan will take the reins of Barclays’ investment bank business in February as co-CEOs, subject to regulatory approval. Jool will join the bank early next year from Bank of America, where he most recently co-headed global investment banking. Khan currently leads Barclays’ global markets.

Each will have a seat on the bank’s group executive committee. “Since 2023, our investment bank has delivered a strong performance, growing revenues and returns and driving a more integrated service for clients,” said C.S. Venkatakrishnan, Barclays Group chief executive.

“As we enter the next stage of our strategy, and reflecting the ambition we have for our investment bank, Adeel and Mike will form a strong partnership to deliver an even stronger, more integrated service to our clients.”—Rob Daly


Manus Costello
Manus Costello, Group CFO

Standard Chartered PLC confirmed the appointment of Manus Costello as Group CFO and executive director. Costello’s appointment, initially announced in May, formalizes his role atop the emerging markets-focused banking group. 

The 25-year industry veteran spent 14 years at AllianceBernstein, rising to global head of research, and earlier served as senior director of equity research at Merrill Lynch.  

Since joining Standard Chartered in 2024 as global head of Investor Relations, Costello has made “a significant contribution to the group’s strategic positioning and engagement of stakeholders, while also bringing strong rigor and an entrepreneurial mindset to the role,” CEO Bill Winters said in a press release. —Luca Ventura


Peter Burrill
Peter Burrill, Group CFO

Swiss private bank Julius Baer appointed Peter Burrill as CFO and member of the Executive Board, effective August 17, subject to regulatory approval. He joins from Standard Chartered, where he was interim group CFO for nine years. Before that, Burrill spent nearly four years at Deutsche Bank as group controller and co-head of group finance, He succeeds Evie Kostakis after a top management shake-up. 

“We are delighted to welcome Pete to Julius Baer,” Bollinger said in a press release. “He brings profound depth and breadth of financial expertise, having led the full range of finance and regulatory functions. With extensive international experience across our core markets and working at a bank strongly focused on wealth management, he will be an outstanding addition to our team.” —LV

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HSBC, StanChart Test Interbank Tokenized Deposits

Home Technology HSBC, Standard Chartered Test Interbank Tokenized Deposits On SWIFT

Banks clear major milestone toward real-time, cross-border tokenized deposits.

Tokenized deposits are a step closer to broader institutional use as HSBC Holdings PLC and Standard Chartered PLC completed the first bank-to-bank transaction via the banking messaging consortium SWIFT’s digital blockchain-backed ledger, the banks reported on Aug. 19.

“As institutional demand grows for faster, more efficient ways to move liquidity, and optimize working capital increase, interoperable tokenized deposits will play an increasingly important role in helping corporate and institutional clients manage treasury, unlock operational efficiencies and support real time liquidity management across markets,” said Mark Willis, head of emerging payments, transactions services, and digital assets at Standard Chartered, in a prepared statement.

Interoperability remains one of the main barriers to tokenized deposit adoption.

The payment transaction sent by HSBC to Standard Chartered was recorded as a tokenized deposit obligation on HSBC’s Tokenised Deposit Service and Standard Chartered’s tokenized-deposit infrastructure, while SWIFT’s blockchain platform acted as the orchestration and record-keeping layer.

“It demonstrates how digital money issued by banks can be interoperable across institutions while maintaining the integrity and regulatory oversight of the existing financial ecosystem,” Lewis Sun, head of digital currencies at HSBC, added in the statement.

The transaction comes six weeks after SWIFT made its digital ledger platform available for initial use. SWIFT officials said the ledger will gain additional functionality after its initial go-live phase.

Tokenized Deposits Benefits

Tokenized deposits differ from stablecoins by their backers and how they operate. Private institutions issue stablecoins backed by an audited reserve of highly liquid financial instruments. Tokenized deposits are digital representations of bank deposits issued by regulated financial institutions and act as direct claims on those institutions. Owners can also convert tokenized deposits back into fiat currency and restore account balances.

For corporate treasuries, tokenized deposits provide the benefits of digital money — faster settlement, programmable money, digital asset integration, and immutable transactions — while maintaining existing banking relationships and aligning with existing banking regulations.

Broader Industry Activity

HSBC and Standard Chartered’s initial transaction via the SWIFT digital ledger is only the latest of such announcements in the past several weeks. A day earlier, the Canton Network announced that tokenized deposits are live on its network with HSBC, Lloyds Bank PLC, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. in various stages of testing, TradingView reported.

In early June, U.S. payments rail operator The Clearing House, which is owned by 25 of the largest financial institutions, released plans to launch on-chain clearing and settlement of tokenized deposits within the established banking framework. 

A month later, the Cari Network announced a soon-to-launch pilot to support real-time settlement, liquidity management, and digital money movement. Unlike other initiatives backed by tier-1 institutions, Cari Network is designed by U.S. regional institutions First Horizon Corp., Huntington Bancshares Inc., KeyBank National Association,  M&T Bank Corp., Old National Bancorp, and SouthState Bank Corp.

The importance of these projects is less about how they achieve results and more about whether they can provide faster settlement, lower reconciliation costs, and real-time cash management. The next step will be whether these pilots develop into production-quality systems that can deliver interoperability and meet regulatory obligations across various jurisdictions.

Rob Daly covers fintech and the economy. Contact him at rdaly@gfmag.com. 

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