Joe Stevens, Bert Kwan leave Standard Chartered PE

The departures were first reported by Bloomberg, which said that Stevens and Kwan had been dismissed. While sources close to the bank confirmed the departures, they disputed another claim in the article that Standard Chartered is considering shuttering its private equity business.

The bank's last official statement on the matter came last November when it said reviews would be conducted of non-core businesses, or "those that do not sit within our tightened risk tolerance." This doesn't necessarily mean a winding down of these businesses, as evidenced by efforts over the last three years to bring third-party capital into the private equity unit and relieve balance sheet pressure.

Of SCPE's $5 billion in assets, half are still on the balance sheet, including around $700 million across an Asia real estate business that has a future and a distressed debt business that is being wound down. The rest is now under third-party ownership, following five transactions - one in 2013 and two each in 2014 and 2015 - with an aggregate asset value of around $2.4 billon.

SCPE set up four separate limited partnerships for these tranches of assets, with the management team taking a minority interest. Investors were brought into tranches four and five - which involve a single limited partnership - with a view to cementing relationships with LPs that could back a future fundraise.

The ultimate objective was, as of earlier this year, to launch a $1 billion-plus Asia, Africa and Middle East fund, with SCPE remaining as a captive unit within the bank. Subsequent reports suggested the private equity team would spin-out, although Standard Chartered has offered no comment on the matter. The status of these plans is now unclear.

Stevens joined Standard Chartered in 2006 as head of principal finance. Before that he was COO at Goldman Sachs Goa Hua Securities, the investment bank's China brokerage business. Kwan has been with SCPE since 2010, having previously worked for Lehman Brothers Private Equity.

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