By Kosaku Narioka

Standard Chartered increased its first-quarter net profit, topping market expectations, and maintained its guidance despite cautioning of heightened economic uncertainty fueled by tariffs.

The London-based bank said Friday that net profit rose from a year earlier, driven in part by higher income from macro and credit trading as well as from investment and insurance products at its wealth business.

Standard Chartered backed its guidance for operating income growth and reiterated its plan to return at least $8 billion to shareholders over the three years ending in 2026.

"Our ability to help clients manage their business and wealth across borders in times of volatility reinforces our confidence that we can continue to improve returns," Chief Executive Bill Winters said.

He said the bank, which generates much of its profit in Asia, remains watchful of the external environment, as trade tariffs have increased global economic and geopolitical complexity.

The lender's Hong Kong-listed shares were 4.2% higher on Friday following the first-quarter results, bringing year-to-date gains to about 23%. The stock has largely recovered from losses in early April amid easing fears about trade frictions between the U.S. and its trading partners.

Standard Chartered is investing $1.5 billion in wealth and digital offerings, client centers and marketing to solidify its position as a leading wealth manager in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

StanChart recently started a new fund focused on sports investing for ultrahigh-net-worth and high-net-worth clients. Partnering with private investment house Ardian, it has also begun a new service to offer ultrahigh-net-worth clients access to co-investment opportunities in private markets.

On Tuesday, rival HSBC Holdings maintained its profitability target and announced a share buyback of up to $3 billion despite the economic uncertainty caused by U.S. tariffs and countermeasures taken by America's trading partners. The bank booked higher expected credit losses and other impairment charges in the first quarter compared with a year earlier to reflect a deterioration in the economic outlook.

Standard Chartered said Friday that net profit increased 11% to $1.36 billion for the three months ended March. That beat the estimate of $1.15 billion in a poll of analysts by data provider Visible Alpha.

It said underlying profit before tax climbed 7.0% to $2.28 billion.

Pretax profit from its corporate and investment banking business increased 6.6% to $1.64 billion due partly to higher income from macro and credit trading. Pretax profit from its wealth and retail banking business rose 22% to $671 million thanks to higher income from investment and insurance products.

Net interest income--the difference between interest paid on deposits and that earned on loans--edged up 0.6% to $1.58 billion. Net fees and commission increased 17% to $1.14 billion. Net trading gains rose 6.3% to $2.6 billion.

The bank booked $217 million of credit impairment in the first quarter, compared with $165 million in the year-earlier period.

Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 02, 2025 02:57 ET (06:57 GMT)

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