Who is Standard Chartered? Standard Chartered is headquartered in London and its chief executive and chairman are based in the UK capital Its roots are in Asia; the Chartered Bank was founded by Royal Charter and opened in Bombay, Calcutta and Shanghai in 1858 Standard Chartered Bank was formed in 1969 through the merger of Standard Bank of British South Africa and the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China It currently makes two-thirds of its profit in Asia; only 10% of its operating profit last year came from the Americas and Europe It currently has 1,700 offices in 70 territories The bank made a pre-tax profit of $6.8bn in 2011 The bank's New York office was first granted its foreign-branch bank licence in 1976 Asian Bank ....not American ..and can easily move HQ out of London if they have to..