Latest news with #StanChart
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
StanChart Signs Carbon Credits Deal With Brazil's Acre State
Standard Chartered Plc has entered a deal with Acre, a state in western Brazil, to sell carbon credits it says will be generated by protecting part of the Amazon rainforest over the next half decade. Under the terms of the agreement, Acre stands to get as much as $150 million in income in exchange for generating some 5 million carbon credits by protecting forests that might otherwise be threatened by crop plantations or cattle ranches, the UK bank said in an emailed statement on Thursday. The credits are expected to come to market next year, with StanChart acting as the exclusive seller.
Business Times
31-07-2025
- Business
- Business Times
StanChart CEO says ‘shame on' big banks quitting net zero group
[LONDON] The chief executive officer of Standard Chartered, Bill Winters, has some strong words for banks that have recently walked back their commitment to achieving net zero emissions. 'Shame on them,' he said during a call with journalists after StanChart released its second-quarter results on Thursday (Jul 31). The comments follow a mass exodus by some of the world's biggest lenders from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), which is the largest climate group for the industry. Wall Street banks started defecting after Donald Trump's reelection to the White House brought with it an intensified anti-climate agenda in the US. Banks in Canada soon followed. Then in July, HSBC Holdings became the first UK bank to quit NZBA. Banks turning their backs on the alliance have said they still intend to help clients transition their businesses to adapt to a future low-carbon economy. At the same time, they have pointed to potential legal risks associated with cracking down on fossil-fuel clients, while also stating that achieving net zero is not feasible if the economies in which they operate aren't on track to hit that goal. Winters said that despite the anti-climate narrative in some parts of the world, StanChart's clients remain committed. 'Most of our clients in most of our markets haven't backed away at all,' he said. That includes clients across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, he said. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 12.30 pm ESG Insights An exclusive weekly report on the latest environmental, social and governance issues. Sign Up Sign Up Clients in Asia and the Middle East 'are as focused on their net zero transitions, or their transitions to a low carbon economy, as they were before,' Winters said. 'And that obviously is good for our business.' In Europe and even in the US, 'we've seen continued strong business,' he said. 'Because a lot of these projects just make sense economically.' Winters has previously warned that climate projects without a clear path to profits are losing investors. But he's also said he wished he'd been more vocal in supporting the green agenda. Speaking to Bloomberg Television's Francine Lacqua at London Climate Action Week in June, Winters said he 'felt ashamed' for not speaking out as decisively on the subject as he had previously. Defending climate policies 'was very politically acceptable four years ago,' but 'it's less so now,' he added. Winters said at the time that he'd 'vowed' to himself to 'be much more vocal and much more visible. So I'm trying to do that.' In connection with HSBC's interim report published earlier this week, CEO Georges Elhedery said even though Europe's largest bank has now exited NZBA, it remains 'fully committed in our ambition to become a net zero bank by 2050.' However, HSBC has walked back 2030 net zero targets and is reviewing goals to lower the emissions of sectors including aviation, automotive and cement. Deutsche Bank, which remains an NZBA member, suggested in its first-half results that there are growing risks associated with how banks approach the alliance. 'After the exit of a UK based bank recently, legal risks in connection with the NZBA membership may increase,' Deutsche said. At the same time, 'reputational risks from exiting the alliance may increase as well.' Banks to have exited NZBA since late last year include Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Royal Bank of Canada. Aside from HSBC, no other major European bank has left the alliance. BLOOMBERG
Reuters
31-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
StanChart profit jumps 26% as CEO Winters' turnaround takes root
HONG KONG/LONDON, July 31 (Reuters) - Standard Chartered (StanChart) (STAN.L), opens new tab reported on Thursday a higher-than-expected 26% jump in first-half pretax profit, driven by growth in the bank's wealth and markets businesses that benefitted from the Trump-induced global volatility. The results show progress in CEO Bill Winters' key goal of growing revenue across its three main business lines of wealth, trading and banking, after spending the first half of his 10-year reign restructuring the bank to slash costs. London-listed shares of StanChart opened flat, after its Hong Kong shares pared early losses to be down 0.4% by 0713 GMT, outperforming the broader Hong Kong market (.HIS), opens new tab which was down 1.5%. The bank's shares have outperformed Britain's benchmark FTSE 100 index (.FTSE), opens new tab in recent weeks for the first time since the start of Winters' tenure. "My first couple of years here were particularly tough given the amount of restructuring that we felt we needed to do," Winters told reporters on a conference call, hailing a turnaround at the bank. "And as I think is the case in most turnaround type stories, it takes a while to demonstrate to the market that the value that is there is really there". The London-headquartered lender's pretax profit for the first six months of this year hit $4.38 billion, better than the $3.83 billion analysts had forecast. Emerging markets-focused StanChart also announced a further $1.3 billion share buyback, and an interim dividend of 12.3 cents a share, its first dividend payment in 2025. First-half income grew 11%, and the bank, which earns most of its revenue in Asia and Africa, slightly raised its guidance for full-year income, saying it now expected growth to be at the bottom of a 5%-7% range rather than below it. The trading business, StanChart's second-biggest revenue driver, registered a 28% jump in operating income to $2.4 billion, propelled by buoyant client trading amid rising market volatility following U.S. President Donald Trump's trade tariffs. Wealth management income shot up by 24% as efforts to boost fee revenue paid off with inflows and the number of new accounts rising - with 135,000 new affluent clients joining in the first six months - due to demand for wealth advice amid the market volatility. The bank has said it will target $200 billion in new assets and double-digit growth in income from its wealth business over the next five years, as part of a wider strategy to shift to higher fee-earning businesses. The lender also appeared to dodge the multi-billion dollar China-related write-downs which blighted rival HSBC's (HSBA.L), opens new tab results announced on Wednesday, with StanChart reporting an impairment charge for the first half of $336 million, mainly from its wealth and retail banking unit. The bank said its exposure to Hong Kong's troubled commercial real estate sector was $2.1 billion, less than 0.5% of its total book, with provisions rising $34 million in the second quarter of the year to $116 million. The lender, however, warned that cash constraints on borrowers could lead to more impairments. StanChart also kept its key performance targets largely unchanged, although the bank's Chief Risk Officer Sadia Ricke said the risk of "re-escalation in global tariffs" has somewhat moderated. "Outside tariffs, we remain vigilant in monitoring geopolitical risks across geographies including the Middle East and the resultant impact it could have on certain commodities prices," she said in a statement.
Business Times
31-07-2025
- Business
- Business Times
StanChart sets US$1.3 billion buyback as H1 profit outstrips forecasts
[HONG KONG/LONDON] Standard Chartered reported on Thursday (Jul 31) a higher-than-expected 26 per cent jump in first-half pre-tax profit, as a strong performance in the wealth and markets businesses boosted its revenue. Emerging markets-focused StanChart also announced a further US$1.3 billion share buyback, and an interim dividend of US$0.123 cents a share, its first dividend payment in 2025. The results show progress in chief executive officer Bill Winters' key goal of growing revenue across its three main business lines of wealth, trading and banking, despite the uncertain global environment and after spending the first half of his 10-year reign restructuring the bank to slash costs. The London-headquartered lender's pre-tax profit for the first six months of this year hit US$4.4 billion, better than the US$3.8 billion average of 15 analyst forecasts compiled by the bank. H1 income grew 11 per cent and the bank, which earns most of its revenue in Asia and Africa, slightly raised its guidance for full-year income, saying it now expected growth to be at the bottom of a 5 to 7 per cent range rather than below it. The trading business, StanChart's second-biggest revenue driver, registered a 28 per cent rise in operating income to US$2.4 billion, propelled by buoyant client trading amid rising market volatility following US-initiated trade talks. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Wealth management income shot up by 24 per cent as efforts to boost fee revenue paid off with inflows, and the number of new accounts rose due to demand for wealth advice amid market volatility. The bank has said it will target US$200 billion in new assets and double-digit growth in income from its wealth business over the next five years, as part of a wider strategy to shift to higher fee-earning businesses. It said 135,000 new affluent clients joined the bank in H1 2025, bringing in US$28 billion of net new money. Hong Kong-listed shares of StanChart rose 1 per cent after the earnings release on Thursday, reversing a morning drop of 4 per cent, while the market was down 1.2 per cent. The bank's shares have outperformed Britain's benchmark FTSE 100 index in recent weeks for the first time since the start of Winters' tenure. China losses avoided The lender also appeared to dodge the multibillion-US dollar China-related write-downs which blighted rival HSBC's results announced on Wednesday, with StanChart reporting an impairment charge for H1 of US$336 million, mainly from its wealth and retail banking unit. The bank said its exposure to Hong Kong's troubled commercial real estate sector was US$2.1 billion, less than 0.5 per cent of its total book, with provisions rising US$34 million in the second quarter of the year to US$116 million. The lender, however, warned that cash constraints on borrowers could lead to more impairments. StanChart also kept its key performance targets largely unchanged, although the bank's chief risk officer, Sadia Ricke, said the risk of 're-escalation in global tariffs' has somewhat moderated. 'Outside tariffs, we remain vigilant in monitoring geopolitical risks across geographies, including the Middle East, and the resultant impact it could have on certain commodities prices,' she said in a statement. REUTERS
Zawya
31-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
StanChart sets $1.3bln buyback as first-half profit outstrips forecasts
HONG KONG/LONDON - Standard Chartered (StanChart) reported on Thursday a higher-than-expected 26% jump in first-half pretax profit, as a strong performance in the wealth, markets and global banking businesses boosted revenue at the lender. Emerging markets-focused StanChart also announced a further $1.3 billion share buyback that it said would start imminently. The London-headquartered lender said the reported pretax profit for the first six months of this year hit $4.38 billion. That compared with $3.49 billion a year earlier and the $3.83 billion average of 15 analyst estimates compiled by the bank. Despite the strong results, StanChart kept its key performance targets largely unchanged, saying the global economy could suffer from the broader fallout of U.S. President Donald Trump's trade wars. The bank, which earns most of its revenue in Asia and Africa, slightly raised its guidance for income this year, saying it now expected growth to be at the bottom of a 5%-7% range rather than below it. StanChart's trading business, its second-biggest revenue driver, registered a 28% rise in operating income to $2.4 billion, propelled by buoyant client trading amid rising market volatility following the U.S.-initiated trade talks. Wealth management income shot up by 24% as efforts to boost fee revenue paid off with inflows and the number of new accounts rising due to demand for wealth advice amid the market volatility. The bank has said it will target $200 billion in new assets and double-digit growth in income from its wealth business over the next five years, as part of a wider strategy to shift to higher fee-earning businesses. It said 135,000 new affluent clients joined the bank in the first half of 2025, bringing in $28 billion of net new money. The lender also appeared to dodge the multi-billion dollar China-related write-downs which blighted rival HSBC's results announced on Wednesday, with StanChart reporting an impairment charge for the first half of $336 million, mainly from its wealth and retail banking unit. The bank said its exposure to Hong Kong's troubled commercial real estate sector was $2.1 billion, less than 0.5% of its total book, with provisions rising $34 million in the second quarter of the year to $116 million. The lender, however, warned that cash constraints on borrowers could lead to more impairments.
