Standard Chartered 2011 Profit Increases 12%

Standard Chartered Plc said Wednesday it posted an increase in profit of 12 percent last year subsequent to robust revenue growth in both wholesale and consumer banking.

The bank, which focuses on faster-growing markets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, has by this announcement posted a record net profit for the ninth consecutive year.

The Bank enters 2012 with good momentum, an exceptionally strong balance sheet and a full transaction pipeline. We remain focused on the fundamentals of our business and on the disciplined execution of our strategy, Chief Executive Peter Sands said in a statement.

Net income rose to $4.85 billion from $4.33 billion a year earlier. Revenue increased 9.8 percent to $17.64 billion from $16.06 billion. There was 12 percent and 9 percent revenue rises in consumer banking and wholesale banking respectively.

Sands noted that one important factor for the profit growth has been tight cost controls. The year also saw the bank performing strongly in Hong Kong and Singapore. In 2011, the biggest single profit contributor for Standard Chartered was Hong Kong that saw an increase of pretax profit by 41 percent. Singapore saw a surge of 40 percent.

Two countries where the bank witnessed decline in profit were South Korea and India. In South Korea pretax profit declined 56 percent. The major reason has been the high staff costs subsequent to the labor dispute over performance related pay. India, which also faced a decrease in profit, was affected by a series of interest rate increases over two years. The pretax profit of the bank's Indian operations fell 33 percent.

At the same time Sands sounded optimistic about South Korea and India for the present year. I am confident both will resume their growth path in 2012, he said.