Standard Chartered banking on China

New CEO Bill Winters says the country suits its business very well

Get busy living or get busy dying. When Bill Winters was invited by the chairman of Standard Chartered Plc to join the group, the London-headquartered international banking and financial services company with a 150-year history in some of the world's most dynamic markets was on the verge of a huge restructuring.

Last year, Standard Chartered reported a $1.5 billion pretax loss, which was its first annual loss since 1989. Its underlying loan impairment soared 87 percent year-on-year to $4 billion in 2015.