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Banking giant Standard Chartered has upgraded its income target for the full-year after its booming wealth business powered profit higher. The FTSE 100 lender posted a pre-tax profit of $1.8bn (£1.36bn) in the three months to September, ahead of the $1.5bn pencilled in by analysts. Non-interest income jumped 12 per cent to $24bn, buoyed by a 27 per cent rise in wealth revenue to $890m. The segment now represents 17 per cent of the group’s overall revenue. Total operating income came in at $5.1bn – a five per cent rise from the same period last year. “Progress is broad-based, but our sharper strategic focus on servicing our clients’ cross-border and affluent banking needs is paying off, with strong double-digit growth in Wealth Solutions and Global Banking,” said the bank’s chief Bill Winters. Net interest income fell five per cent to $1.4bn. Operating expenses also rose four per cent to near $3bn. Standard Chartered increases impairment Standard Chartered posted a credit impairment charge for the third-quarter of $195m. This was an increase of $17m over the prior year and included exposures in Hong Kong commercial real estate. Return on tangible equity – a key measure of a bank’s profitability – swelled by 0.5 points to 10.5 per cent, beating analyst estimates of 7.8 per cent. The bank’s stock slumped over the summer after allegations over the firm’s practices had courted the attention of US president Donald Trump, who last week took to Truth Social to post a link to an article about the claims published by a far-right news outlet. That was followed by calls from Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who called for an investigation into the FTSE 100 giant, sending its shares tumbling. But the US Department for Justice said in August that allegations of fraud were “entirely unfounded”. Standard Chartered shares rose 3.7 per cent to 1,410p on the news.
