Peace named StanChart chairman

Peace, 60, has been acting chairman at Standard Chartered since January, when Mervyn Davies stepped down at short notice to become a Treasury minister.

Peace, a veteran of retail and financial services who attended Sandhurst Military Academy and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, will quit as chairman of Experian once a new chairman is found. He will remain chairman of Burberry Group .

"John Peace clearly knows an awful lot about financial services and information, I'm sure he'll be a good choice for Standard Chartered," said Nick Bubb, retail analyst at Pali International.

"He has a nice touch and was well respected amongst the retail analysts."

The appointment rules Peace out of the running for the chairman's role at part-nationalised Lloyds Banking Group , which he had been linked to.

Former Citi chairman Win Bischoff is the hot favourite to land that role, although the search is still in progress.

Peace had also reportedly been short-listed to become chairman of supermarket group J Sainsbury .

He has held a number of top roles in financial services and retail, including experience in Asia and elsewhere. He has been on Standard Chartered's board since August 2007.

FROM SANDHURST TO FINANCIALS

Most of his jobs have been linked to retailer GUS and its spin-offs. He was GUS chief executive for six years from 2000, after joining the company in 1970.

In 1980 he co-founded CCN, a trading company formed by GUS to provide information services to retailers and other lenders. CCN later became Experian, a FTSE 100 <.FTSE> firm, where he was CEO and then chairman when it was demerged in 2006.

He has been Burberry chairman since 2002 and oversaw its flotation.

Standard Chartered has weathered the financial crisis better than most rivals thanks to its Asia focus and traditionally strong capital and liquidity.

"The group is in excellent shape, as you can see from our recent trading update, and I look forward to continuing to work with our great management team and board," Peace said.

The bank's growth has been mainly organic, but it has made periodic acquisitions. It is in talks to buy some of Royal Bank of Scotland's Asian assets, including in China and India, according to people familiar with the matter.

By 12:30 p.m., Standard Chartered shares were up 1.1 percent at 1,193 pence, Experian was up 0.5 percent at 457.5p and Burberry was up 1.9 percent at 428.5p.

(Additional reporting by Victoria Bryan; editing by Simon Jessop)