Financial Results
Profits Rise At Standard Chartered's Wealth, Retail Arm; Group Results Sparkle
Among the details, the UK-listed bank said it intends to invest about $1.5 billion over five years in building out its roster of investment advisors and RMs, wealth solutions, and other capabilities.
The wealth and retail banking arm of Standard
Chartered reported a rise of profit in the third quarter to
$742 million, rising 11 per cent on a year earlier. For the nine
months to end-September, they rose 5 per cent to $2.149 billion.
At the group level, pre-tax profit surged by more than a
third.
The wealth solutions business enjoyed rising earnings from
products, partly offset by lower deposits' income. Expenses rose
4 per cent, while credit impairment in the third quarter rose to
$62 million.
Net new sales in the wealth business stood at $5 billion in the
quarter, rising 13 per cent year-on-year.
The UK-listed bank, which earns the bulk of its revenues outside
the UK, said it intends to invest around $1.5 billion over five
years in relationship managers and investment advisors, wealth
solutions, and enhanced advisory, cross-border and digital
capabilities. This represents a doubling of investment relative
to its previous plans, Standard Chartered said. “The
incremental investment will be funded by reshaping our mass
retail business to focus on building a strong pipeline of future
affluent and international banking clients,” it
continued.
Group results
Looking ahead, Standard Chartered said it expects operating
income to increase at 5 to 7 per cent compound annual growth rate
in 2023 to 2026 on a constant currency basis; 2025 growth is
expected to be below the 5 to 7 per cent range.
On a reported basis, pre-tax profit rose 37 per cent year-on-year
to $1.807 billion. On an attributable basis, profit surged 56 per
cent to $1.005 billion. At the end of September, the Common
Equity Tier 1 ratio stood at 14.2 per cent, a rise of 30 basis
points on a year earlier.
“We are increasing both our 2026 RoTE [return on tangible equity]
target from 12 per cent to approaching 13 per cent, and our
shareholder distribution target from at least $5 billion to at
least $8 billion from 2024 to 2026,” Bill Winters, CEO, said.