London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Standard Chartered sees profit more than double, resumes interim dividend

Standard Chartered sees profit more than double, resumes interim dividend

Standard Chartered’s pre-tax profit was US$1.15 billion, beating a consensus estimate of US$816 million. The bank said it would resume paying an interim dividend, buy back US$250 million in shares.

Standard Chartered, one of Hong Kong’s three currency-issuing banks, said its profit more than doubled in the second quarter as it joined larger crosstown rival HSBC in restoring its interim dividend to shareholders and said it would buy back an additional US$250 million in shares.

The London-based bank and other United Kingdom lenders suspended their dividends last year at the request of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), an arm of the Bank of England, to make sure they had enough capital on hand to support the economy in light of the coronavirus pandemic. The suspension spurred a revolt among some investors in Hong Kong.

Standard Chartered and HSBC, which both generate much of their revenue in Asia, were allowed to pay a modest dividend for full-year 2020 this year and the PRA removed “temporary guardrails” that restricted how much they can distribute to shareholders in July. The share buy-back follows a US$255 million repurchase programme in the first quarter.

The emerging-markets focused bank said it would pay an interim dividend of 3 US cents a share. Analysts expect the bank to pay a dividend of 19.5 US cents a share over the course of the year, according to market consensus.

“The negative impact of zero interest rates a year ago had a very substantial impact on our income at the end of last year and the beginning of this year,” Bill Winters, the bank’s CEO, said at a press conference in Hong Kong. “We were able to largely, but not completely, offset that by good, strong underlying business growth. That growth was driven by our business in Asia. Very encouraging results in Hong Kong, China and the rest of Asia, complemented by good results elsewhere.”

In the second quarter, the lender’s pre-tax profit was US$1.15 billion, beating a consensus estimate of US$816 million, and an improvement over the US$741 million it reported a year earlier, the bank said in a statement. On a net basis, Standard Chartered earned a profit of US$691 million in the second quarter, compared with a profit of US$339 million a year ago.

Shares of Standard Chartered rose 0.6 per cent to close at HK$47.75 in Hong Kong on Tuesday.

In the quarter, the bank released US$67 million in reserves set aside for soured loans. Standard Chartered took provisions of US$2.3 billion for all of 2020 as the pandemic weighed on economic activity.

Standard Chartered and its banking rivals are shifting to more fee-based products and piling into the wealth business as they look to navigate an extended period of historically low interest rates, which have sapped the profitability of traditional lending products.

The bank plans to hire and promote 3,000 relationship managers and wealth specialists over the next five years as it seeks to double the size of its business serving affluent clients in Asia.

Operating income, similar to revenue in the United States, declined 1.9 per cent to US$3.69 billion.

Net interest margin, an important measure of profitability, slipped 6 basis points to 1.22 per cent from 1.28 per cent in last year’s second quarter. It was 1.22 per cent in the first quarter.

Hong Kong, Standard Chartered’s biggest market, is showing signs of recovery after suffering its worst economic contraction on record in 2020.


On Monday, HSBC said it would restore its own interim dividend as it reported a better-than-expected second-quarter profit on reserve releases and lower operating expenses.

At the same time, Winters said Standard Chartered was prepared to address any issues raised by a new anti-sanctions law that China’s top legislative body is expected to insert into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution later this month.

The law gives Beijing, and private individuals, grounds to take countermeasures against foreign “discriminatory restrictive measures” that “violate international laws and basic norms”.

“We always abide by the laws in the markets where we operate. We’ve also found a way to navigate around the challenges that come up from time to time without compromising any of our underlying requirements,” Winters said on a call with journalists. “If this happens at all, we’ll obviously take a good close look, we’ll understand it and [we’ll] navigate through it.”

Meanwhile, Standard Chartered said that its wealth management business reported a nearly 26 per cent jump in operating income to US$554 million in the second quarter. Operating income in its financial markets business increased 3.3 per cent to US$1.27 billion in the quarter.

Underlying pre-tax profit in its Asia business segment, which includes Hong Kong, nearly doubled to US$1.01 billion in the second quarter. The segment accounted for 81 per cent of the bank’s pre-tax profit.

Loans and advances to customers in Asia increased 3 per cent since the end of March, predominantly driven by lending in Hong Kong and China, as well as trade-related financing in Hong Kong and Singapore, the bank said.

Hong Kong, Standard Chartered’s biggest market, saw its economy grow by 7.9 per cent in the first quarter and 7.5 per cent in the second quarter, after its suffering its worst contraction on record last year.

In its corporate, commercial and institutional banking business, underlying pre-tax profit rose 72 per cent to US$936 million. Underlying pre-tax profit in its consumer, private and business banking segment more than doubled to US$299 million.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×