Standard Chartered Ends Fiscal 2019 With Weaker Fourth Quarter Result

No-moat Standard Chartered’s fourth-quarter results were slightly weaker against our expectation. Underlying profit before tax of USD 4.2 billion was slightly below our forecast of USD 4.3 billion. For the full year, return on tangible equity increased by 130 basis points to 6.4%. In our third quarter earnings note, we indicated that we believed the target of ROTE of at least 10% by 2021 may be challenging in an environment of lower interest rates and slower economic growth. We are not surprised that management said the target would take longer to achieve.