The wealth management side of the UK-listed bank delivered positive results, with assets under management and inflows both rising.

Standard Chartered today said that in the second quarter of 2024 income at its wealth solutions arm rose 25 per cent on a year ago to $618 million, with broad-based growth across all products, aided by investment in relationship numbers. New client onboarding levels were “strong,” the UK-listed group said.

Net new sales more than doubled to $13 billion and wealth assets under management stood at $135 billion, rising 12 per cent from the end of 2023.

For the first half of 2024, wealth solutions net income was $1.234 billion, rising 23 per cent.

Across the entirety of Standard Chartered, it booked an underlying pre-tax profit of $1.8 billion, rising 15 per cent on a constant currency basis.

It had a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio of 14.6 per cent, above the bank’s 13 to 14 per cent target range. The bank’s $1.5 billion share buyback programme is expected to cut that ratio by about 60 basis points.

“We generated double-digit income growth, with positive momentum continuing into the second quarter, and with continued discipline in managing our expenses. This led to a 20 per cent growth in underlying profit before tax. Reflecting confidence in our performance and robust capital position, we are upgrading our guidance for income growth, which we now expect to be above 7 per cent in 2024,” Bill Winters, chief executive of Standard Chartered, said. 

The bank, which earns the bulk of its revenues outside the UK in regions such as Asia, said global banking operating income rose 11 per cent in Q2 from a year ago to $488 million on a constant currency basis. Its global markets business income dropped 7 per cent resulting from the non-repetition of strong prior-year episodic income in its macro trading business.