Standard Chartered wealth arm booms in volatile second quarter
Standard Chartered’s wealth and markets arms boomed in a volatile second quarter of the year driving a surge in profit at the London-listed bank.
The FTSE 100 firm recorded a 47 per cent uptick in global markets income on a constant currency basis, as takings topped $1.2bn (£900m) for the second quarter. Meanwhile, wealth solutions rose 20 per cent when compared with the second quarter of 2024, hitting $742m.
The growth helped operating income surge 14 per cent to $5.5bn, whilst reported profit before tax jumped 48 per cent to $2.3bn.
Global banking income rose 12 per cent in the quarter to $548m.
The increase helped lift profit for the first six months of the year to $4.38bn, surpassing analyst expectations of $3.83bn.
The strong performance came amid a volatile quarter for global banks after President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ levies sent markets into a tail spin.
Diego De Giorgi, Standard Chartered’s chief financial officer, said “volatility has been the story of the quarter”.
Standard Chartered follows in Wall Street footsteps
The quarter began with Trump’s sweeping tariffs across the US’ biggest trading partners, triggering a global investor sell-off across major indices.
Standard Chartered’s results follow suit with top Wall Street banks who rode the market volatility to breeze past analyst expectations in the second quarter as revenues boomed on the market turmoil.
But the firm kept its future guidance largely unchanged, due to the uncertainty surrounding global economies.
Standard Chartered slightly upped its income targets for the year, expecting growth to be at the bottom of a 5 per cent to 7 per cent range rather than below it.
The firm said the “risk of re-escalation in global tariffs has somewhat moderated” but it continues to assess new developments. The lender also cautioned “downside risks to the global economy persist amid elevated trade policy uncertainty and wider geopolitical change”.
In the height of the global trade war, Standard Chartered shares took a bruising as the outsized tariffs on Asia hit their key markets.
Standard Chartered’s five-day loss following Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ reached 20 per cent as it tumbled as low as 878.80p.
The bank has since clawed back gains as the White House rowed back on its trade offensive. Shares closed at 1,370.00 on Wednesday with a three month gain of over 27 per cent.