StanChart lifts income target after wealth boom powers earnings beat; shares jump

FREE Breaking News Alerts from StreetInsider.com!

E-mail Address

StreetInsider.com Top Tickers, 7/29/2026

1. SPY
2. CDNS
3. NVDA
4. META
5. FFIV
6. AAPL
7. USO
8. TFII
9. XFLT
10. AMZN

July 29, 2026 12:09 AM EDT

FILE PHOTO: The Standard Chartered bank logo is seen at their headquarters in London, Britain, July 26, 2022. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo

By Selena Li and ‌Lawrence White

HONG KONG/LONDON, ​July ​29 (Reuters) - Standard Chartered reported on Wednesday a better-than-expected 9% rise in first-half pretax profit and lifted its full-year income target, ‌as wealth and global banking revenue surged and credit charges ⁠tied to the Iran war held steady.

The bank's Hong Kong-traded shares rose more than ‌5% after the earnings release ‌to hit an almost 19-year high.

StanChart, which earns most of its revenue in Asia and Africa, said that pretax profit for the ​first six months of this year reached $4.78 billion. That compared with $4.38 billion a year earlier and the $4.52 billion average of 16 analyst ⁠estimates compiled by the bank.

The bank revised its guidance for the year, saying it would see ​income growth around the middle of a 5-7% range instead of previous guidance for it to be closer to ​the bottom.

Wealth management income jumped 38%, driven ‌by double-digit growth in investment products as inflows and the number of new accounts increased amid strong demand ⁠for wealth advice during a period of market volatility.

"Clients continue to turn to us to facilitate trade, investment and wealth flows across the world's most dynamic ⁠markets," Group Chief Executive Bill Winters said in a statement.

StanChart said its Middle East ​portfolio represents 6% of overall exposures, and that it had remained broadly stable.

The lender took a $44 million additional impairment in the second quarter, which it said partly ‌reflected clients in the petrochemical sector showing early signs of distress.

It set aside $190 million as precautionary management overlays ‌in April against expected future losses.

StanChart announced a $1 billion share buyback, along with ⁠an interim dividend of 20.4 ‌cents per share, up ​from 12 cents the year before.

(Reporting by Selena Li in Hong Kong and Lawrence White in London; Editing by ‌Kevin Buckland)


Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!

You May Also Be Interested In





Related Categories

Reuters

Related Entities

Dividend, Stock Buyback, Earnings