Standard Chartered (StanChart) has grown its full year 2019 profit by eight per cent and improved earnings per share by 23 per cent in its December 31, 2019 full year financial results.
In a statement, its Group Chief Executive, Bill Winters, said the bank said: “Discipline on the things we control and a sharp focus on where we are differentiated enabled us to grow underlying profit eight per cent and improve earnings per share by 23 per cent in 2019, despite an increasingly challenging external environment. We are in the right markets guided by the right strategy and united through our purpose to drive commerce and prosperity. I am confident that we have set ourselves up for lasting success.”
The underlying momentum in the fourth quarter of 2019 continued in the opening weeks of 2020 but lower interest rates, slower global economic growth, a softer Hong Kong economy and the impact of the recent novel coronavirus outbreak will likely result in income growth in 2020 below our medium-term five to seven per cent target range.
Commenting on the results, Sunil Kaushal, Regional CEO, Africa and Middle East said: “I’m proud to say that 2019 was a strong year for the Bank. For Africa and Middle East, we were wellpositioned for growth moving into the year and this is clearly illustrated in our results. Our strong performance demonstrates the transformation of the Africa and Middle East franchise despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop across the region.”
“Our results are driven by an outstanding performance by our Global Banking business, particularly in Corporate Finance which had a strong first quarter in 2019 closing out marquee deals, and our Debt Capital Markets business also had a strong year overall. The distinct competitive advantage of our network capabilities and strong product offering allowed us to connect to our clients across Africa and the Middle East and grow key corridors into the region. Our focus on accelerating our digital agenda and the transformation of our Retail Banking business proved successful as well. We launched eight digital banks across key markets in subSaharan Africa in less than a year, digitised our wealth management offering for the digital bank platform, and grew accounts by over 150,000.”
“We have had a good start to the business in 2020 and the underlying business excluding large deals continues to be resilient. As we move forward, the region is focused on executing swiftly against the strategy to drive growth and we are determined to support our clients achieve prosperity.”
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