London-headquartered Standard Chartered saw its profits fall in the third quarter due to impairments linked to the Chinese market.
Standard Chartered posted a pre-tax profit of $633 million in the third quarter, according to the bank’s financial results, down 54 percent year-on-year. Operating income rose 4 percent to $4.5 billion while operating expenses increased 6 percent to nearly $2.9 billion.
The largest negative impact on the bank’s results was from impairments, most notably those related to China. Credit impairments grew 29 percent to $292 million, which included another $186 million in charges linked to China's commercial real estate sector. The bank also recorded a $697 million impairment charge related to an investment in China Bohai Bank, due to subdued earnings and a challenging macroeconomic outlook.
Year-to-date, Standard Chartered registered a pre-tax profit of around $4 billion, down 5 percent year-on-year.
Asia Results
Within the bank's Asia business, pre-tax profits fell 68 percent to $330 million in the third quarter.
Operating income was up 10 percent to $3.2 billion, driven by double-digit increase across cash management, retail deposits and wealth management which was partly offset by lower mortgage income and a loss in treasury markets. Operating expenses rose 8 percent to $1.8 billion.
