StanChart sees double digit profit growth for 2010

U.K. lender Standard Chartered Plc sees double digit pretax profit growth for 2010 at its consumer and wholesale banking segments, and that it is tracking towards a strong performance in the full year.

The Asia-focused bank said both businesses have performed well, with client income growth in wholesale banking "very good" and income in consumer banking showing "good" levels of growth.

"We continue to be very well placed in markets that have strong growth prospects, despite continuing turbulence in the global economy," chief executive Peter Sands said.

Standard Chartered said it has performed strongly in 2010, and is on track to deliver another year of record income and profit.

“While the update is robust enough, the shares have had a strong run and some investors have been taking profits this morning," said analyst Richard Hunter of Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers.

Shares of the bank, a FTSE 100 member, are trading at 1,830.00 pence, down 2.56 percent, at 09:18 am GMT Thursday on the London Stock Exchange.

Hunter said the bank remains well exposed to the burgeoning economies of the East, and has remained free of government constraints throughout the entirety of the global banking crisis.

Standard Chartered, which derives more than 90 percent of its income from the emerging markets, expects net interest margins to fall from 2009 levels due to pressure on asset margins.

Hunter said the fact that cost growth is likely to exceed income growth over the full year is of some concern, while margin pressure and the uncertainty around global banking regulation continue to weigh.

On the other hand, the group’s October cash call was a move ahead of the pack, whilst there has been a constant improvement in the loan impairment situation, Hunter said.

"The market consensus is that the shares remain a hold, albeit a strong one," Hunter said.

For the first half, the bank reported pretax profits of $3.1 billion, up ten percent from the same period last year.

In October, Standard Chartered announced its plans to raise about 3.26 billion pounds through a rights issue to maintain strong growth in emerging markets and also to meet new rules on capital requirements.