Standard Chartered has posted a pre-tax profit of $2.5bn for first half of 2021, a surge of 57% from $1.63bn a year ago.
The Asia-focussed bank has also announced $250m share buy back programme and resumed paying dividend to shareholders
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StanChart’s operating expenses for the six months ended 30 June 2021 increased by 8% to $5.09bn from $4.71bn in the first half of 2020.
The bank said that the expenses were up due to the impact of the normalisation of performance-related pay accruals and higher investment spend.
The operating income declined by 5% to $7.61bn from $8.04bn in year ago half.
Net interest income during the period fell 4% to $3.37bn from $3.5bn a year ago, while other income dropped 7% to $4.24bn from $4.54bn.
StantChart posted a profit of $1.92bn for the period, a jump of 81% from $1.06bn in the first half of 2020.
The bank’s earnings per share increased 22.4 cents to 54.8 cents during the first six months of the year.
Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters said: “I am encouraged by our positive performance in the first half of 2021 despite an uneven recovery from Covid-19.
“We grew profit before tax 37% year on year, helped by improved loan impairments, strong underlying business momentum and good progress across our strategic priorities.
“We are more confident in achieving our return on tangible equity targets and we are pleased to announce today an additional share buy-back programme together with the resumption of our interim dividend payment.”
The Consumer, Private & Business Banking division of the bank posted statutory profit before taxation of $756m for the first half of 2021. The division’s operating expenses stood at $2.09bn.
