Hong Kong: Standard Chartered yesterday said its net profit was flat in 2012, even after the British lender was hit by huge fines for violating US sanctions on Iran and other countries.
Net profit came in at $4.79bn, compared to $4.75bn in 2011, the London-based, Asia-focused lender said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. Pre-tax profit rose one percent to $6.9bn.
While income rose eight percent to $19.07bn, profit was hit by the $667m in fines it was forced to pay US authorities last year to settle charges it violated sanctions, the bank said.
The settlements “dented our profit growth and damaged our reputation,” group chief executive Peter Sands said in a statement.
Despite the hefty fine, the bank — which has a strong footprint in emerging markets that has helped shield it from the eurozone crisis and outshine competitors — clocked up a 10th consecutive year of income and profit growth. Investors and analysts hailed the results and the bank’s share price rose 2.76 percent to 1,829.1 pence on London’s FTSE 100 index of leading companies.
Atif Latif, director of trading at Guardian Stockbrokers in London, said the full-year result was an “excellent set of numbers”.
“Standard Chartered have struggled in the past with the negative news we have seen for the sector and these results should appease those investors that have been patient,” he said.
The bank’s group chairman John Peace said Standard Chartered “remains a growth story” and that it has entered 2013 with “strong momentum”. AFP
