Standard Chartered to face shareholder action over climate change policies May 10, 2021 Shareholders are set to eye Standard Chartered bank’s climate policies, according to environmental organisation Market Forces, revealing it has pumped $31.4bn into fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement. The scrutiny comes as the bank confirmed its participation in a $400m five year loan for global coal giant Adaro Indonesia, as part of a syndicate of [...]
Standard Chartered profit soars to $1.4bn as Covid19 provisions to cover bad loans go unused April 29, 2021 Standard Chartered this morning posted a higher- than-expected 18 per cent jump in quarterly pre-tax profit, as the Asia-focused bank began recovering from the economic hit caused by the Covid19 pandemic. Pre-tax profit for the three months to 31 March was $1.4bn, up from $1.2bn a year earlier, and well ahead of the $1.08bn analysts had [...]
Diversity blow: UK banks lost 10,000 women in 2020 March 12, 2021 The number of women at the UK’s five biggest lenders shrank by three per cent during 2020, according to new Bloomberg data. Men saw a decline of around 2.1 per cent as banks pushed ahead with long-planned cuts and navigated the Covid-19 crisis. At NatWest, roles filled by women fell by nine per cent compared [...]
Coming or going? Aviva the latest to cut office space as rival bosses say ‘remote working can’t last’ March 4, 2021 Aviva the latest to cut office space as rival bosses say 'remote working can't last'
Standard Chartered to cut office space as dividend returns despite profit hit February 25, 2021 Standard Chartered will resume its dividend for the full year despite a sharp fall in profit due to the pandemic, as it unveiled plans to slash office space in the coming years. The London-based lender, which halted its payout last year at the request of the Bank of England, said it will pay a dividend [...]
FTSE 100 closes flat while Wall Street rally loses steam February 9, 2021 The FTSE 100 closed flat on Tuesday afternoon while Wall Street retreated on the back off a record session yesterday. London’s blue-chip index closed 0.12 per cent higher as sterling rose to a near three-month high, largely because the dollar floundered as investors eyed a large stimulus package on the horizon. The FTSE 250 closed [...]
Editorial: Those who profit in Hong Kong must speak up in its defence November 11, 2020 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s four freedoms, which he promised Americans in the face of economic strife and growing authoritarianism abroad, are freedoms that this newspaper is more than happy to sign up for. Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear? Well, they work for us. In London – [...]
StanChart considers resuming dividend after quarterly profit beats estimate October 29, 2020 Standard Chartered said it would consider resuming dividends after reporting a smaller-than-expected 40 per cent drop in third quarter profit as it lowered coronavirus loan loss expectations. The UK-based, Asia-focused lender posted an underlying pre-tax profit of $745m (£572m) for the three months to September, significantly ahead of bank-compiled analyst forecasts of $502m, Standard Chartered [...]
City watchdog blasts UK banks over money laundering safeguards September 24, 2020 Not all British banks are convinced of the need to invest large sums to crack down on dirty money, meaning the quality of anti-money laundering controls is falling short, the City watchdog’s chief enforcer said. Global lenders, including UK-based HSBC, Barclays and Standard Chartered, have come under increased scrutiny for their anti-money laundering (AML) efforts [...]
British bank bosses give up bonuses amid coronavirus crisis April 8, 2020 Top bosses at British banks including Natwest and Lloyds have taken salary cuts and ditched bonuses worth millions of pounds as consumers and businesses suffer the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Natwest chief executive Alison Rose will donate a quarter of her remaining salary for 2020 — set at £2.2m per year — to a [...]