Standard Chartered to return $2 billion more to shareholders as earnings beat forecasts
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The fresh buyback will bring total shareholder distributions to US$4.9 billion since 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – Standard Chartered said it would hand back US$1.5 billion (S$2 billion) more to shareholders as it reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat estimates.
The London-headquartered bank announced a fresh buyback which would bring total shareholder distributions to US$4.9 billion since 2023, it said in a statement on Feb 21.
“Our strategy of combining differentiated cross-border capabilities for corporate and institutional clients with leading wealth management expertise for affluent clients is firing on all cylinders,” chief executive officer Bill Winters said in a statement.
Adjusted pretax profit at the London-headquartered lender came in at US$1.05 billion for the three months through December, surpassing the Bloomberg-compiled analyst estimate of US$1.02 billion.
The bank, which makes most of its money in Asia and the Middle East, is in the midst of a corporate cost-saving programme known as “Fit for Growth” that is forecast to see it invest about US$1.5 billion in a range of initiatives to make it more efficient.
About 10 per cent of the cost of the programme was accounted for in 2024, and a half is expected to come this year, according to chief financial officer Diego De Giorgi.
January marked a major milestone for Mr Winters, as shares in the bank finally rose above the level they were at when he first took the CEO role about a decade ago. In 2024, he had called the bank’s share price “crap” for languishing for far too long.
The stock’s value has almost doubled in the past year and is now trading at £11.40 – higher than the £10.41 level at which it had closed on Mr Winters’ first day on the job back in June 2015.
Mr Winters is the longest serving boss of a major UK bank and during his tenure he has led several rounds of restructuring, an emergency rights issue, dealt with historic issues with US authorities over sanctions violations and fended off a takeover attempt by one of the UAE’s largest banks.
On his watch, Standard Chartered’s underlying return on tangible equity has more than doubled to 11.7 per cent in 2024 from seven years earlier. With higher interest rates partly boosting earnings, the lender has focused on investor returns with buybacks and dividends, helped by exposure to Asia’s fast-growing economies. BLOOMBERG
