HONG KONG/LONDON (Reuters) – Standard Chartered on Thursday reported a 5.5 percent rise in first-quarter pre-tax profit, beating estimates, as higher interest rates boosted the emerging markets-focused bank's profits.
Standard Chartered, which generates most of its revenue in Asia, said its pre-tax profit in the quarter was $1.91 billion. That compares to $1.81 billion a year earlier and the $1.39 billion average estimate of 13 analysts compiled by the bank.
“We delivered a strong set of results in the first quarter of 2024, with double-digit income growth and positive operating leverage,” Bill Winters, CEO of Standard Chartered, said in the earnings release.
“We remain confident in achieving our financial targets and maintaining our full-year 2024 guidance.”
Despite quarterly profits that beat expectations, the bank saw credit deterioration worsen in 2024, with $165 million written off in the first three months, compared to $20 million the previous year.
Standard Chartered had taken a total of $850 million from writedowns in previous quarters on its stake in China's Bohai Bank, which like its peers has suffered from the slowdown in China's economy and the deepening crisis in the country's real estate sector.
The bank, which generates the bulk of its revenue in Asia, said its profits from joint ventures in the first quarter fell from $18 million to $6 million as Bohai Bank's profits fell, in another sign of its struggles in China.