James started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he specialised in tax accounting and consultancy and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with the ICAEW.  He worked for Standard Chartered Bank from 2001 to 2019 in a variety of roles ranging from heading up corporate and institutional businesses, to Group Head of Investor Relations and most recently performing the role as Chief Financial Officer for the Group's countries, regions and business segments, James was also the CFO for the Global Retail Banking business and the co-leader of the global finance function.  In 2019, James joined ClearBank as CFO and Executive Director.