The bank reported a mixed set of figures across its business divisions, including wealth management. Across the whole group, profit rose in the first three months of this year.

Standard Chartered, the UK-listed banking group earning the bulk of its revenue in regions such as Asia, yesterday reported an attributable profit of $1.176 billion in the first quarter of 2022, rising 7 per cent from a year earlier. 

Operating income rose 9 per cent year-on-year to $4.292 billion; operating costs declined 5 per cent to $2.665 billion in the quarter, the bank said in a statement.

The bank said there was a $197 million credit impairment in Q1, up from $17 million.

On an underlying basis, pre-tax profit was $1.5 billion, rising from $1.446 billion.

Wealth management operating income fell to $530 million from $646 million. Within the consumer, private and business banking segment of Standard Chartered, the division logged underling pre-tax profit of $372 million, down from $500 million a year before. The fall was affected by income falling by 7 per cent due to an 18 per cent cut in the wealth management side as well as a 3 per cent increase in costs, while credit impairments were 28 per cent lower.

At the end of March, Standard Chartered had a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio – a standard measure of a bank’s capital buffer – of 13.9 per cent, narrowing slightly on a year before.