Standard Chartered PLC has announced a record first half operating profit before tax of $3.12bn, demonstrating the ability of the business to deliver consistent and sustained performance.

The bank has continued to improve its capital and liquidity ratios, and delivered 10 per cent growth in both earnings per share and dividend per share.

The bank maintained strong income momentum, with 8 per cent growth in consumer banking and 18 per cent in wholesale banking client income. Group income was broadly flat overall against the first half of 2009, which benefited from exceptional wholesale banking own account income and a one-off gain of $248m related to the buy-back of debt.
Group income climbed 10 per cent against the second half of 2009, said a statement issued by the bank on Wednesday.
Peter Sands, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered, said “These results demonstrate our commitment to delivering consistent and sustained performance. This is not a bounce back, a sharp recovery in profits; it is simply another set of record results, continuing a trajectory that now extends over more than seven years.

“Both our businesses enter the second half with good momentum, but we remain extremely watchful about the global outlook and are managing the business very dynamically. We are investing now in order to grasp the huge long term opportunities across our markets. The bank is in great shape, has good momentum, and is superbly positioned for the future.
“Momentum remains strong in both businesses. As the East rebounds from the crisis, and with very strong growth in many of our markets, we saw this reflected in our business and transaction volumes. We continue to take market share from competitors in a number of key products, including mortgages, deposits, corporate finance, trade finance and cash management.

“As the economic environment has improved, the bank has taken a deliberate step to increase investment to take advantage of the prospects for long-term growth in our markets.

“Expenses rose 8 per cent on the first half of last year as we hired staff and invested in branches, infrastructure projects and in building product capability.

“The Group continued to focus on the basics of good banking, keeping a tight grip on costs and risk control and maintaining a liquid and conservative balance sheet. The Group is strongly capitalised and generated organic equity of more than $2bn in the first half of 2010, with our core tier 1 capital ratio rising to 9.0 per cent, while total capital remains strong at 15.5 per cent.

“The advances to deposits ratio improved further to 76.2 per cent and the Group continues to attract deposits. The bank continues to maintain a conservative funding structure, with all debt maturity requirements for 2010 pre-funded, alongside the majority of those for 2011.

“In line with the geographic footprint of the bank across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, we have no direct exposure to Southern European sovereign debt. Income by markets remained well spread, with no individual market contributing more than 15 per cent of income.