John Peace, Standard Chartered’s new chairman, has no great banking pedigree but must have aced the psychometric test. His low-key style suits the world’s most unassuming lender. Chief executive Peter Sands is barely a household name in his own household.

Mr Peace should keep it that way. He is stepping up from acting chairman at a time when there is a danger that animal spirits are settling in at StanChart. A trading update last week showed that profits in the first five months had never been higher, driven up by wider spreads in the wholesale bank. Headcount in that division has grown 9 per cent this year alone. Dealmakers’ desks are accumulating perspex tombstones; own account trading is growing. Pre-tax wholesale earnings in the first half may be four times what they were four years ago.