Standard Chartered's Profit Slides on Impairments, Operating Costs

By Sherry Qin

Standard Chartered PLC's third-quarter underlying net profit dropped 30%, weighed by higher credit impairment and operating expenses.

The London-based lender on Thursday said its underlying net profit came to $644 million, compared to $915 million a year earlier.

The company recoded a $294 million credit impairment charge, up $62 million on year. The charge was mainly related to commercial real estate in China.

Expenses increased due to inflation, business growth and targeted investment, it said in a filing.

The bank's underlying operating income came at $4.40 billion, 6% higher than in the same period last year. The topline growth was driven by an on-year increase in its net interest margin and the strong recovery of wealth-management income.

StanChart's net interest income rose 18% to $2.4 billion, with its normalized net interest margin at 1.67%, down 4 basis points from the second quarter.

The lender said it has completed around $1.80 billion of the $2.0 billion of share buybacks that it announced this year.

StanChart is "confident in the delivery of our 2023 financial targets, including a return on tangible equity of 10%," Chief Executive Bill Winters said.

The company said it expects 2023 income to rise 12%-14% at constant currencies.

Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 26, 2023 01:18 ET (05:18 GMT)

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