The son of a coalminer has been confirmed as the new chairman of emerging-markets bank Standard Chartered.

John Peace, who engineered the break-up of retail giant GUS three years ago, succeeds Mervyn Davies, who became trade minister in January.

The appointment makes it even more likely that another of the contenders for the job, Sir Win Bischoff, will replace Sir Victor Blank as chairman of Lloyds Banking Group.

The appointment of an internal candidate to one of London's top five banks underlines the shortage of suitable candidates to fill vacant chairmanships. Peace had been considered one of the possible successors to Sir Philip Hampton as chairman of J Sainsbury.

Peace has been acting chairman of Standard Chartered since Davies's elevation to the House of Lords. A softly spoken 60-year-old, he is highly thought of in the City.

He is still chairman of two of the businesses spun out of GUS. He heads Burberry and Experian, the consumer credit business he co-founded during his time with GUS. As acting chairman, Peace has been paid £650,000 a year, which will rise only slightly on his full-time appointment.

Peace is deputy lieutenant of Nottinghamshire and chairs the board of Nottingham Trent University. He is also chairman of The Work Foundation.