Standard Chartered Bank's Q4 profit falls short of expectations, with weak trading income and rising costs

Standard Chartered Bank (HK:2888) (LON:STAN) reported its fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, which fell short of analyst expectations. Despite growth in wealth management and corporate banking, sluggish revenue growth and rising expenses dragged down overall performance.

The bank, focused on the Asian market, announced a basic pre-tax profit of $1.24 billion for the three months ending December 31, below the $1.38 billion consensus estimate compiled by Bloomberg, but up 18% from $1.05 billion in the same period last year.

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Operating revenue was roughly flat at $4.85 billion, compared to $4.83 billion last year, with growth in wealth solutions and global banking offsetting softness in market trading income.

Net interest income declined 1% year-over-year, from $2.98 billion to about $2.95 billion, reflecting margin pressure from falling interest rates.

Operating expenses increased 5% to $3.43 billion from $3.28 billion, mainly due to ongoing investments and transformation costs. Credit impairment losses rose from $130 million last year to $145 million, primarily driven by provisions for retail banking.

CEO Bill Winters stated that the bank continues to benefit from structural growth trends in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, and has started 2026 on a solid footing.

For the full year, basic pre-tax profit grew 18% to $7.9 billion from $6.8 billion, with return on tangible assets rising from 11.7% to 14.7%.

The bank proposed a final dividend of $0.49 per share, bringing the total annual dividend to $0.61, a 65% increase from last year, and announced a new $1.5 billion share repurchase program.

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