Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN) (LON:STAC) trimmed its bonus pool by 7 percent after the $667 million fine from U.S. regulators for breaching the sanctions on Iran and three other countries. The bank will pay a dividend of 84 cents per share, which is 10.5 percent up from the previous year.
Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN) (LON:STAC) made a record of 10 years successive increase in profit, with a 1 percent surge in profit in 2012. The bank posted a pretax profit of $6.9 billion for 2012, an increase from $6.8 billion in 2011. The profit, however, fell short of expectation of analysts at$7 billion.
“Standard Chartered Bank remains a growth story and we are sticking to our strategy, focusing on the basics of good banking, in markets we know well, with clients and customers with whom we have deep relationships,” Chairman John Peace said.
The group operations in China and wholesale banking in Africa contributed $1 billion of income for the first time. According to the bank, it started the new fiscal with good energy in both businesses and was pretty confident for the year ahead. Consumer banking income and banking client income was also more than the previous year, with impressive levels of client activity.
Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN) (LON:STAC)’s origin can be traced back to 19th century British Colonial rule in Africa and India. The corporate banking has contributed primarily in profits for more than three quarters. Operating costs for the bank increased to $10.9 billion from $9.9 billion. The operating profit at the division came down by 1.5 percent to $5.14 billion after fine. However, the bank posted an increase of 8.6 percent in revenue, which came in at $11.78 billion. The consumer banking division led by Steve Bertamini posted an increase of 7.8 percent to $1.78 billion.
“Consumer was a little bit better than we expected and wholesale a little bit worse,” said Gary Greenwood, a banking analyst at Shore Capital Ltd. who rates the lender a buy. “The outlooks statement looks pretty confident — they talk about very good momentum into the New Year and how they’re taking market share.”
Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN) (LON:STAC) increased by 4.1 percent and was up almost 3 percent at 1,832.5 pence in the early trading session today in London. The bank is valued at 44 billion pounds ($67 billion). The stock of the bank increased around 16.5 percent this year. Standard Chartered turned out to be the best performer among Britain’s five biggest lenders.
