“Today is all about people,” insisted Standard Chartered’s chairman, Sir John Peace, as he abruptly kicked chief executive Peter Sands out of his job. Bill Winters, former head of JP Morgan ’s investment bank, will arrive in May to succeed him.

However, what investors will want to hear very swiftly is less about people and more about the numbers. The emerging-markets-focused bank is struggling with poor earnings, relatively weak capital and large exposures to risky credits in China and commodities-related business.