Standard Chartered, the London-headquartered bank focused on Asia, Africa and the Middle East, has raised its 2026 income guidance after a strong third quarter.
Pre-tax profit rose 29% to $2.3 billion, measured at constant currency.
Operating income climbed 14% to $5.8 billion, excluding one-off items.
The bank now expects income growth for the year to exceed its earlier range of 5% to 7%.
It also expects a return on tangible equity (RoTE), a measure of profit against shareholder capital, of around 14% for 2026.
RoTE was 15.7% in the quarter, up from 10.5% a year earlier.
Wealth and markets lead
Wealth Solutions, which sells investment and insurance products to affluent clients, grew income 26% to $1.1 billion, its third consecutive record quarter.
The business took in a record $20 billion of net new money from wealthy customers and added 76,000 new clients.
Global Markets, the trading division, grew income 21%, with double-digit gains in both client flow and one-off trading income.
Net interest income, the gap between what the bank earns on loans and pays on deposits, rose 9% to $3.0 billion.
Weakness was confined to unsecured lending, where income fell 13% as the bank tightened credit standards, and to Hong Kong mortgages, where a lending rate cap limited repricing.
Costs and capital
Operating expenses rose 9% to $3.4 billion, driven by hiring and technology spending, though income grew faster.
Credit impairment, the charge for bad loans, halved to $90 million, including $34 million of overlays linked to the Middle East conflict.
Central costs included a $45 million provision for potential legal action over a historical transaction in a legacy business.
The common equity tier 1 ratio, a key measure of financial strength, stood at 13.8%, down 31 basis points on the previous quarter.
The bank has spent $484 million of a $1 billion share buyback launched on 29 July.
Bill Winters, chief executive, said the quarter showed "broad-based growth across our businesses".
Earnings per share rose 55% to 68.9 cents.
