Standard Chartered announces plan to slash costs
Standard Chartered today announced further plans to slash costs as the lender reported that profits grew 28 per cent last year.
The figures
The group has completed $3.2bn worth of cuts since 2015 and is targeting a further $700m reduction in costs as part of its new three-year strategy to boost growth, it announced in its full-year results today.
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Underlying profit before tax was $3.9bn, up 28 per cent on the previous year, however it slightly missed expectations of $4bn.
Operating income increased five per cent to $15bn, in line with analysts expectations and the bank’s wealth management division grew three per cent but slowed in the second half of the year as sentiment weakened.
During the year the lender made a $900m payment for legacy financial crime control matters and FX trading issues.
A final dividend per share of 15 cents was announced, up 36 per cent on 2017.
Why it matters
The lender's shares have dropped 40 per cent since Winters took the top job in 2015 and undertook a three-year restructuring programme.
The bank said the trading environment was largely supportive but the global economy began to lose some steam in the second half of the year, with the trade war between the US and China and tighter financial conditions due to the US Federal Reserve raising rates throughout the year.
What the company said
Standard Chartered chief executive Bill Winters said: “Over the last three years we have fundamentally overhauled the bank. It is now a solid platform off which we can grow profitably and sustainably to deliver a double-digit return on tangible equity by 2021.
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“We will achieve this through relentlessly focusing on where we have a distinct competitive advantage, attacking the residual causes of lower returns and ramping-up innovation and productivity.
“We view the profound technology-driven changes in banking as an opportunity: we are big enough to be relevant to our most complex clients and partners, yet nimble enough to be a profitable disrupter.”