Standard Chartered has made a 46% annual jump in annual profits, but cautioned that achieving an important profit target might take longer due to the effects of the Corona Virus outbreak. >
According to Reuters, the bank said the outbreak could lead to an increase in bad loans, but it did not provide a specific forecast about the potential impact. HSBC said last week it could face loan losses of up to $ 600 million if the outbreak continues in the second half of the year.
"The emerging Corona virus outbreak has unprecedented humanitarian and economic consequences," said Bill Winters, Standard Chartered CEO, in a statement.
Noting that lower interest rates also put pressure on net interest income, the bank said it would take longer to achieve the target of bringing the return on tangible property rights to ten percent, which was already set for 2021.
The bank, which generates most of its revenue in Asia, posted a pretax profit of $ 3.7 billion in 2019. Although this is slightly below the average forecast of $ 3.9 billion, it remains the highest profit growth since 2017 when the bank achieved a six-fold increase.
The bank said that its provisions for the expected losses from bad loans in Hong Kong increased 46 million dollars in the second half of last year.
The bank announced that it had agreed to repurchase up to $ 500 million of shares in a process that would begin soon.
