Standard Chartered profit soars to $1.4bn as Covid19 provisions to cover bad loans go unused
Standard Chartered this morning posted a higher- than-expected 18 per cent jump in quarterly pre-tax profit, as the Asia-focused bank began recovering from the economic hit caused by the Covid19 pandemic.
Pre-tax profit for the three months to 31 March was $1.4bn, up from $1.2bn a year earlier, and well ahead of the $1.08bn analysts had pencilled in.
As with similar profit rises at HSBC and Lloyds announced this week, the improvement was driven by StanChart setting aside less cash to cover bad loans than it had done one year ago.
However, unlike those rivals, StanChart released only a small amount of the funds it holds against bad loans.
It also cited a stronger performance in its wealth management business.
Bill Winters, group chief executive, said: “Our first quarter performance was strong. Economic recovery advanced in many of our markets leading to improved transaction volumes and profitability. This was particularly the case in our Financial Markets and in Wealth Management, which had its best ever quarter.
“Our areas of strategic focus including efforts to lead with a differentiated sustainability offering are growing well. Despite low interest rates, we expect our underlying momentum to lead to income growth in the second half of 2021.”