Standard Chartered’s 2025 profit jumps 16% buoyed by robust wealth management growth


Standard Chartered Bank, one of Hong Kong’s three note-issuing banks, reported a 16 per cent profit jump for 2025, as strong wealth management growth helped it weather rising bad debt from the city’s commercial real estate slump.

The London-based bank, which generates much of its revenue from Asia, reported an underlying pre-tax profit of US$7.9 billion last year, compared with US$6.8 billion in 2024, the bank said in a stock exchange filing on Tuesday. Underlying earnings per share stood at US$2.297.

This matched analysts’ estimate of US$7.9 billion.

Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters. Photo: Jonathan Wong

It proposed a 49 US cents final dividend, bringing the total for 2025 to 61 US cents. A year earlier it paid 37 US cents. The bank said it would set aside US$1.5 billion to buy back shares this year, after spending US$1.5 billion on buy-backs last year.

“We have made a good start to the year and continue to benefit from a supportive business environment,” CEO Bill Winters said in the exchange statement.

“We are seeing robust growth in our larger markets, and structural shifts in global trade and investment play to our distinctive strengths serving our clients’ cross-border and affluent banking needs.”

The bank’s shares jumped 1.3 per cent to HK$194.5 on Tuesday morning before the earnings announcement.

More to follow.

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