Diego Folino, who is president and chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank International - formerly American Express Bank International - is taking on the additional role of regional head, Standard Chartered Private Bank for Americas, based in Miami.

Mr Folino will be responsible for the private bank offices in New York, Miami, and Latin America, as well as governance oversight of the Miami office and of the private bank network marketing offices in California and Canada. He will report toPeter Flavel, global head of Standard Chartered Private Bank, as well to David Stileman, chief executive, Standard Chartered, Americas.

In his previous role with the bank, Mr Folino was chief executive, Standard Chartered Mexico, where he was largely responsible for broadening corporate and institutional client relationships and building the wholesale banking franchise.

Meanwhile, Gil Schmidt, currently regional head, of Standard Chartered Private Bank Americas, will be appointed global head of strategy implementation and new ventures, which is a new role. Mr Schmidt will have global responsibility for strategic and business development of the private bank. He will be based in New York and continue to report to Mr  Flavel.

Morteza Farzaneh, head of relationship management for South East Asia, has been appointed global head of relationship management for Standard Chartered Private Bank, also reporting to Mr Flavel.

Last week, Standard Chartered reported a 31 per cent rise in its profits for the first half of this year compared to the same period a year before.