Standard Chartered in share issue

| Thursday October 14, 2010 00:00

 

The move follows global rules agreed last month on how much capital banks should hold in reserve.

The new regulations, called Basel III, were designed to prevent another financial crisis.

Standard said it saw many opportunities for growth across Asia, Africa and the Middle East but that these would be limited unless more money was raised.

'The rights issue will enable Standard Chartered to continue... focusing on its organic growth strategy,' the bank said.

Although seen as one of the sector's strongest banks, the firm said it was 'prudent' to plan for even stricter capital requirements and the possibility they may come in sooner than initially thought.

In August, Standard reported a 10% rise in its first-half profit, helped by a fall in money set aside for bad loans.And in an interim statement it said that it had built on this during the third quarter.

The bank had 'delivered another strong performance, with record levels of income and of profits to the end of September' said group chief executive Peter Sands.

'Business activity levels across our markets are continuing to increase, with trade volumes almost back to pre-crisis levels.

'Standard Chartered is benefiting from these trends and continues to be well placed to service the needs of its clients and customers.'-(BBC)