HONG KONG/LONDON (Reuters) – Standard Chartered PLC reported a 5.5% rise in first-quarter pre-tax profit on Thursday, beating forecasts, as higher interest rates boosted the emerging markets-focused lender’s profits.
StanChart, which gets most of its revenue from Asia, said pre-tax profit for the quarter was $1.91 billion. That compared with $1.81 billion a year earlier and an average of $1.39 billion in estimates from 13 analysts compiled by the bank. .
“We delivered strong results in the first quarter of 2024 with double-digit revenue growth and positive operating leverage,” StanChart CEO Bill Winters said in the earnings release.
“We remain confident of achieving our financial targets and maintain our 2024 guidance.”
Despite better-than-expected quarterly earnings, the bank’s credit impairment worsened in 2024, with $165 million in write-downs in the first three months, up from $20 million a year earlier.
In previous quarters, StanChart wrote down a total of $850 million of its stake in Chinese bank Bohai Bank, which like its peers has been hit by a slowing Chinese economy and the deepening crisis in the country’s real estate sector.
The lender, which makes most of its revenue in Asia, said its profits from joint ventures fell to $6 million from $18 million in the first quarter as Bohai Bank’s profits fell, another sign of its troubles in China.