By Anshuman Daga and Lawrence White
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Standard Chartered’s third-quarter pre-tax profit doubled from a year earlier, beating market forecasts, as the emerging markets-focused lender rode a recovery in pandemic-hit markets.
Statutory pretax profit for the bank, which earns most of its revenue in Asia, jumped to $996 million in July-September, from $435 million a year earlier. This compared with the $942 million average estimate of 16 analysts as compiled by the bank.
The London-headquartered bank, which is focussed on Asia, Africa and the Middle East, reported on Tuesday credit impairment charges of $107 million versus $353 million a year earlier.
CEO Bill Winters, who took charge in 2015, has tried to restore growth while creating a portfolio of digital assets in the last few years, after repairing the bank’s balance sheet and slashing thousands of jobs in his early years.
Still, StanChart’s London-listed shares have underperformed rivals since then, and are up 8% this year versus a 18% rise for HSBC and 37% surge for Barclays.
(Reporting by Anshuman Daga in Singapore and Lawrence White in London; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
