Growth slows at Standard Chartered

THE SLOWDOWN in Asia and adverse foreign exchange fluctuations have slowed growth at Standard Chartered bank.

StanChart yesterday said it expected interim pretax profit to grow by less than 10 per cent year on year for the six months to June 30th – a marked drop from the 17 per cent growth reported in the first half of 2011 to $3.64 billion.

StanChart, whose £32 billion market capitalisation makes it one of the biggest UK-listed banks, attributed the slowdown to the weakening of local currencies.

As Standard Chartered earns most of its revenues in local currencies, but reports its earnings in dollars, the bank is particularly exposed to foreign exchange fluctuations.

Despite the Asian weakness, finance director Richard Meddings reiterated the group’s confidence that it would hit consensus operating profit forecasts of $7.7 billion for 2012.

Year-on-year double-digit income growth for the first half is expected in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Africa, the Americas, Britain and Europe, he said, but warned the group was not immune to the euro zone crisis. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012