Global banking major Standard Chartered on Wednesday reported a 19 per cent growth in profit before tax at $6.12 billion in 2010, with India and Hong Kong contributing over $1 billion each to the earnings.
The Asia-focused bank has registered an operating profit of $1.19 billion from Indian operations in 2010, an increase of 13 per cent over the previous year.
In HongKong, StanChart has posted an operating profit of $1.10 billion in 2010 as compared to $1.06 billion in 2009.
“2010 delivered strong and diversified profit and income growth across our markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East,” StanChart said.
Overall, the bank has recorded a profit before tax of $6.12 billion in 2010 as against a profit before tax of $5.51 billion in 2009. StanChart’s income increased to $16.06 billion in 2010 from $15.18 billion the year earlier.
StanChart has attributed its strong earnings to growth on increased wholesale and consumer banking operations and a sharp reduction in loan impairment charges. The bank also benefited with robust performance of emerging countries including India.
“This has been a strong year for the Group, with good growth in volumes as we take market share from our competitors. We have continued our planned investment in the businesses to position us well for the long-term opportunities across our markets, whilst delivering our 8th year of record profit and income,” StanChart Group CEO Peter Sands said.
In the wholesale banking, income climbed by 7 per cent to $9.97 billion, with profit up 17 per cent at $4.77 billion.
Consumer banking continues to make strong progress in its transformation, with income up 8 per cent to $6.07 billion, while profit climbed 51 per cent to $1.31 billion, despite ongoing margin compression.
Besides, loan impairments fell significantly by 56 per cent to $883 million, while expenses increased to $9.02 billion in 2010 from $7.95 billion the year earlier.