Standard Chartered’s Verlaine wins Asia-Pacific award

Francois Verlaine, managing director and head of ASEAN & South Asia for financing and securities services at Standard Chartered, won the 2026 Asia-Pacific Industry Person of the Year award at the Leaders in Custody event last night following a live attendee vote. He was shortlisted alongside Alvin Chia of Northern Trust, Rehan Ahmed of Marketnode and Wai Mei Hong of JP Morgan. Verlaine accepted the award on stage and thanked colleagues and peers while acknowledging the other nominees.

The award recognizes Verlaine’s role in expanding Standard Chartered’s securities services across ASEAN and South Asia. During his time in the role, the bank expanded its client base beyond global custodian and broker-dealer services to include investors, asset owners and insurance clients in the region.

Several ASEAN markets where Standard Chartered operates have been listed among outperformers in agent bank surveys, reflecting consistent performance across those jurisdictions.

Verlaine joined Standard Chartered in 2013 and has held senior roles including leading strategy and new business development for securities services. Before that he spent more than eight years at JP Morgan in product, sales and strategic business development across investor services after an early career in strategy consulting.

The industry vote at Leaders in Custody brought together custody and securities services professionals to recognize leadership and operational progress across the region.