Standard Chartered's First-Half Profit Rose 20% on Year

By Yifan Wang

Standard Chartered's first-half net profit rose 20% on year, helped by higher net interest income.

The Asia-focused lender on Friday posted an underlying net profit of $2.13 billion as operating income rose 14% to $8.95 billion, which the bank said was the highest half-yearly income since the second half of 2014. The growth has been driven by sharply higher net interest income, which grew 29% on an underlying basis amid the tightening of monetary policy globally.

Net interest margin during the period increased 35 basis points to 1.67%.

StanChart also raised its full-year income guidance and now expects constant-currency growth of 12% to 14%, up from its earlier forecast of around 10%.

"We have made a strong start to 2023 with positive momentum being supported by progress on our Five strategic actions and the markets in our footprint are expected to continue to grow faster than those in the West," the bank said.

Write to Yifan Wang at yifan.wang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 28, 2023 00:54 ET (04:54 GMT)

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