StanChart H1 pre-tax net jumps 45% to $450 mn

Standard Chartered Bank on Tuesday posted 45 percent jump in pre-tax profit in the January-June period at USD 450 million, but said macroeconomic situation and currency volatility make it 'cautiously optimistic' about the future.    

StanC, which is the only foreign bank listed on the domestic bourses through an IDR (Indian depository receipt) issue and also the oldest and largest in terms of branch network, had posted a pre-tax profit of USD 311 million in corresponding period last year. Also read: Karur Vysya Bank Q1 profit slips 17.5% on higher provisions
    
The pre-tax profit from the wholesale banking vertical grew 44 percent to USD 379 million from USD 263 million in the corresponding period last year.
    
"There are still challenges on the macro and currency fronts. As such we remain cautiously optimistic about the longer-term prospects for our business here," chief financial officer Anurag Adlakha told reporters here.
     
Sunil Kaushal, chief executive for India and South Asia, said from the profit and loss perspective, the ongoing depreciation in the rupee had a 5 percent impact on the bank during the reporting period. The bank witnessed a slight uptick in overall loan impairment at USD 98 million as against USD 94 million in the same period last year, which Adlakha said was driven largely by the acquisition of Barclays' credit card business. Kaushal claimed the bank has become the largest seller of new credit cards among all the international lenders but said it will tread with caution in the unsecured loans with reports of delays in salaries and some job losses coming in because of the gloom on the economic front. Adlakha said the unsecured book constitutes 15-16 percent of the total asset book at present. Excluding the assets from the Barclays acquisition, it posted a 10-11 percent credit growth during the fiscal, he said, adding it is also able to widen its net interest margin to 3.7 percent from the earlier 3.5 percent on a dip in deposit rates.