Stanchart makes record US$3.12b profit

| Thursday August 5, 2010 00:00

The Bank, which is the majority shareholder in Stanchart Botswana maintained strong income momentum, with eight per cent growth in Consumer Banking and 18 percent in Wholesale Banking client income. Group income was broadly flat overall against the first half of 2009, which benefited from exceptional Wholesale Banking own account income and a one-off gain of $248 million related to the buy-back of debt. Group income climbed ten per cent against the second half of 2009.

Peter Sands, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered said: 'These results demonstrate once again our commitment to delivering consistent and sustained performance. This is not a bounce back, a sharp recovery in profits; it is simply another set of record results, continuing a trajectory that now extends over more than seven years.  Both our businesses enter the second half with good momentum, but we remain extremely watchful about the global outlook and are managing the business very dynamically. We are investing now in order to grasp the huge long term opportunities across our markets. The Bank is in great shape, has good momentum, and is superbly positioned for the future.'

 Momentum remains strong in both businesses. As the East rebounds from the crisis, with very strong growth in many of our markets, we saw this reflected in our business and transaction volumes.  We continue to take market share from competitors in a number of key products, including mortgages, deposits, corporate finance, trade finance and cash management.  Africa recorded another very strong set of numbers in the first half of  2010 with income growth increased by 16 percent to $646million and operating profits increased by 17 percent to $311million. Both our Consumer and Wholesale Banking businesses showed very good momentum, recording broad based income growth across our geographies, products and customer segments. Commenting on the Africa results, Mike Hart, Regional Chief Executive Officer, Africa, said: 'Following our record performance across Africa last year, we have once again recorded very strong income and profit growth in the First Half of 2010.

'Across the region we have made significant progress against our strategy in the first half of this year - maximising our ability to combine our international expertise and capabilities with our deep-rooted local knowledge, enabling us to deliver market-leading solutions to our customers and clients across Africa,' he said.