Global bank Standard Chartered reports biggest profit since 2014

Global bank Standard Chartered has reported its largest quarterly profit in nearly a decade after cashing in on rising interest rates.

The bank, which is largely focused in Asia and emerging markets, said it managed to improve its business performance despite an “uncertain environment” across the industry.

It told investors it made an underlying profit before tax of 1.7 billion US dollars (£1.4 billion) in the first three months of the year, surging nearly a quarter since last year and marking the largest quarterly profit since early 2014.

The bank is in the midst of a delayed turnaround plan having previously been operating at a loss.

The bank said it has continued to benefit from rising interest rates, which have pushed up the cost of borrowing for banking customers.

It led its net interest income – the difference between what a bank earns from loans and pays for savings – to jump by nearly a fifth to two billion US dollars (£1.6 billion) in the first quarter.

“The first quarter of 2023 was characterised by a period of significant uncertainty for the banking industry,” Standard Chartered said.

“The group has successfully navigated this period delivering a strong operating performance whilst maintaining its robust liquidity and capital metrics.”

The tumultuous period for the banking sector followed the high-profile failure of Silicon Valley Bank in the US and Swiss bank Credit Suisse, which had been deemed “too big to fail”.

Earlier this week, US regional lender First Republic Bank revealed customers withdrew more than 100 billion US dollars (£81 billion) during the first three months of the year amid the wider panic.

Major British banks have been keen to assure customers and investors that they are strong, with NatWest Group blaming the two bank collapses on “poor risk management and long-standing, idiosyncratic challenges”.

Bill Winters, Standard Chartered’s group chief executive, said: “Business performance continues to improve across our markets and products, and has been achieved in what continues to be an uncertain environment.

“We remain optimistic about our continued strong performance and now expect 2023 income to grow around 10%, the top end of our range, and remain confident in the delivery of all of our financial targets, including our return on tangible equity target.”

The bank’s wealth management division recovered from a weak performance over the second half of 2022, it said.

It noted that investment income declined amid “subdued” equity markets, as investors remained cautious of volatility in the wider financial markets.