José Maria Viñals Íñiguez (born 20 June 1954) is a Spanish economist and businessman. He serves as Group Chairman of

Standard Chartered Standard Chartered PLC is a British multinational bank with operations in wealth management, corporate and investment banking, and treasury services. Despite being headquartered in the United Kingdom, it does not conduct retail banking in th ...

and Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank, the United Kingdom subsidiary of Standard Chartered.

Early life

José Viñals was born 20 June 1954 in Madrid, Spain. He graduated from the

University of Valencia The University of Valencia ( ), shortened to UV, is a public research university in Valencia, Spain. It is one of the oldest universities in Spain, and the oldest in the Valencian Community. It is regarded as one of Spain's leading academic i ...

with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1976, and went on to earn a master's degree in economics from the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

in 1977 and a PhD from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1981.

Career

Viñals began his career as an assistant professor of economics at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

from 1981 to 1986. Viñals worked as an economist for the Bank of Spain from 1986 to 2006, when he retired as deputy governor. Viñals worked for the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

from 2009 to 2016, when he retired as the financial counsellor and director of the monetary and capital markets department. He was "also the IMF’s chief spokesman on financial matters, including global financial stability." Viñals succeeded John Peace as group chairman of

on December 1, 2016.

Other activities

* Institute of International Finance (IFF), Member of the Board

Personal life

Viñals is married and has four children.

References

1954 births Living people University of Valencia alumni Alumni of the London School of Economics Harvard University alumni Stanford University faculty Spanish economists Spanish chairpersons of corporations Standard Chartered people International Monetary Fund people Spanish officials of the United Nations {{Spain-economist-stub