Standard Chartered, the Asia-focused bank, today said first-half profits growth would fall below 10% as it saw rising bad debts and was hit by the strength of the US dollar.
The London-headquartered bank has shown double-digit growth for each of the past nine years with the exception of the post-financial crisis blip in 2010.
At the end of the first three months of this year it was still showing “low double-digit growth in operating profits”.
Finance director Richard Meddings reckoned the bank can pull back to 10%-plus growth in revenues for the full year despite external pressures.
“My numbers show we can hit double-digit income growth. The issue is in a world like this with the eurozone pressures and exchange rates, there’s more risk to the downside,” he said. Standard Chartered said there had been a slowdown in its wealth management division as Asian investors became more cautious because of the eurozone crisis.
It also said there had been subdued growth in its Indian business as the rupee weakened against the dollar.
The shares have fallen 16% in the past three months. Today they rose 17.5p to 1351.5p.
Chief executive Peter Sands said: “Against the background of a slowing and turbulent global economy, Standard Chartered has continued to deliver strong growth. We remain in growth mode and continue to see significant opportunities.”
