Standard Chartered halves dividend as profits fall 44%

Standard Chartered halved its dividend and said it would raise capital from investors if needed, as new chief executive Bill Winters outlined plans to revive the bank after a slump in profits laid bare the scale of its problems.

The bank's first-half pretax profit fell 44 per cent as losses from loans in India and to commodities firms jumped and growth in its key Asian markets slowed.

Mr Winters, a former JP Morgan investment bank boss who took over in June after the ousting of long-time predecessor Peter Sands, did not pull punches on past strategic errors.

“Today’s results clearly show the bank has some real challenges. We’re working through a legacy of a focus on growth over risk discipline and returns, together with an emerging markets slowdown,” Mr Winters told reporters.

“We’ve also been too slow to take our decisions, whether on costs, people or strategy,” he said.

The bank said pretax profit in the first six months of the year dropped to $1.82 billion from $3.27 billion a year ago, while income fell 8 per cent on the year.

– Reuters