John Paynter joined the Board of Standard Chartered PLC as an Independent Non-Executive Director on 1 October 2008.

He is a Non-Executive Director of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc. He is Chairman of Standard Life Investment Holdings and is a Non-Executive Director of Standard Life Plc. He was appointed a senior advisor to Greenhill & Co. Inc. on 1 April 2009 and was previously Vice Chairman of JP Morgan Cazenove. He joined Cazenove in 1979, was appointed partner in 1986, and later headed Corporate Finance, Cazenove's largest business. Following Cazenove's merger with JP Morgan in 2005, John was appointed Vice Chairman where his responsibilities were predominantly external facing, acting on behalf of major clients and handling all aspects of the broking relationship.

John read law at University College, Oxford, he is married with three children, and lives in the UK.