Standard Chartered PLC Earnings - Q4 2025 Analysis & Highlights
Standard Chartered PLC delivered record full-year 2025 results with strong income growth, achieved its three-year strategic targets ahead of schedule, and announced significant shareholder distributions while maintaining confidence in continued momentum across its core business segments.
Key Financial Results
Full year 2025 income reached $20.9 billion, up 8% year-on-year, demonstrating broad-based growth across the organization.
Underlying return on tangible equity (RoTE) was 14.7% for 2025, exceeding the 2026 target set at the beginning of the strategic plan.
Profit before tax increased 18% to $7.9 billion on an underlying basis, with reported profit before tax up 18% to $7 billion.
Earnings per share increased 37%, reflecting strong underlying performance and ongoing reduction in share count.
Net interest income (NII) was $11.2 billion, up 1% year-on-year, with negative impacts from rates and wealth and retail banking (WRB) portfolio actions offset by volume growth and mix improvement.
Non-NII increased 13% year-on-year, or 17% excluding notable items, driven by strong performance in Wealth Solutions, Global Markets, and Global Banking.
Credit impairment for 2025 was $676 million, up around $100 million as 2024 included significant net recoveries in Corporate and Institutional Banking (CIB).
Loan loss rate of 19 basis points was broadly flat year-on-year, with expectations to normalize towards the historical through-the-cycle 30 to 35 basis points over time.
Business Segment Results
CIB income for the year was $12.4 billion, up 4%, with Global Banking up 15% driven by strong growth in origination and distribution, while Transaction Services declined 7% due to lower rates.
Global Markets income was up 12% with consistent growth in flow income above long-term trajectory, though episodic income was a small negative in Q4 due to timing of large client deals and broad-based market movements.
WRB income of $8.5 billion was up 6%, driven by consistent strong growth in Wealth Solutions, which increased 24%.
Wealth Solutions generated $52 billion in net new money for 2025, equivalent to 14% growth in affluent assets under management (AUM), making Standard Chartered the fastest-growing wealth manager in Asia.
Affluent AUM reached $447 billion, positioning Standard Chartered as the number three wealth manager overall across Asia.
The bank onboarded 275,000 new-to-bank affluent clients in 2025 and up-tiered over 300,000 individual clients across the continuum.
Mox digital bank achieved 15% year-on-year customer growth, reaching around 750,000 customers.
Trust Bank continued momentum with customer numbers up 15% year-on-year, reaching over 1 million customers and taking its share of the adult population of Singapore beyond 20%.
Capital Allocation
A new $1.5 billion share buyback was announced, which will start imminently and reduce the pro forma CET1 ratio to 13.5%.
Full year dividend per share increased 65% year-on-year, representing a significant increase in shareholder distributions.
Total shareholder distributions announced since February 2024 exceeded $9.1 billion, including the buyback and dividends announced, surpassing the three-year target of at least $8 billion ahead of schedule.
Tangible book value per share increased 12% on a per share basis.
The bank maintained a full investment program intended to build on strong business momentum while delivering attractive returns to shareholders.
Industry Trends and Dynamics
Global trade, capital flows, and economic connectivity continue to endure and thrive, with institutions built to support them mattering more than ever.
Chinese and international corporates are diversifying manufacturing and shifting supply chains, with Standard Chartered playing a central role in those shifts across China corridors to markets in ASEAN, South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
Regional and bilateral trade pacts in South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and ASEAN are supporting growth in trade and investments across Standard Chartered's footprint markets, playing to the bank's core cross-border strengths.
Regions are seeking elements of self-sufficiency in search for more resilient middle power status, creating opportunities for trade and investment flows.
Competitive Landscape
Standard Chartered's network business, representing around 60% of CIB income, is highly diversified, resilient, and agile, with strength in providing network services in and around China including payments, FX, and financing.
The bank stands out in serving financial institution clients due to differentiated products, extensive local market and global networks, and specialized capabilities in security services, financial markets, and financing.
Standard Chartered serves a wide range of financial institution clients including banks, broker-dealers, investors, sponsors, insurers, and sovereign wealth funds.
The bank has remained disciplined in managing resources within CIB to focus on serving top-tier clients where it can provide more value, exiting around 3,000 clients by the end of 2025 with minimal loss to income.
Standard Chartered is ranked first in the Global Bank Climate Adaptation Assessment 2025, ranking the world's 50 largest commercial banks on their adaptation maturity.
Macroeconomic Environment
2025 was shaped by heightened geopolitical tension, tariff announcements, and periods of significant financial market volatility across multiple asset classes.
The bank entered the period of global volatility from a position of strength, as evidenced by strong financial results despite challenging conditions.
Interest rate headwinds impacted the business, with growth delivered despite these headwinds and a softer fourth quarter for episodic income in markets.
Currency weighted average rate outlook indicates a 44 basis point reduction in 2026, with continued headwind expected due to movements in interest rates throughout the year.
Growth Opportunities and Strategies
Wealth management represents a major growth opportunity, with the bank targeting $200 billion of net new money over five years, having delivered $52 billion in the first year.
The bank is investing in data infrastructure and AI enablement to deliver both productivity and growth benefits in the years ahead.
Product innovation and advisory capabilities, including initiatives in AI, position the bank well to capture market opportunities and cater to changing client preferences.
SC Ventures is building ecosystems in areas of the future of finance, including digital assets, tokenization, blockchain settlements, and data and technology capabilities.
Sustainable and transition finance exceeded the income target of at least $1 billion in 2025, with $157 billion mobilized in sustainable finance since the beginning of 2021, putting the bank over halfway towards its commitment to mobilize $300 billion by 2030.
The bank is focusing on increasing the proportion of affluent clients to 75% of WRB income, having achieved 70% in 2025, up from lower levels previously.
Financial Institutions client segment is an attractive area, with the bank making further progress towards its 60% medium-term target, as this segment generally delivers higher return on risk-weighted assets.
Financial Guidance and Outlook
2026 year-on-year income growth is expected to be around the bottom end of the historical 5% to 7% range at constant currency, with adjusted NII expected to be broadly flat.
Reported costs for 2026 are expected to be broadly flat at constant currency, with the bank no longer providing underlying cost disclosures.
The bank is targeting a statutory return on tangible equity of greater than 12% in 2026.
NII in 2026 is expected to be broadly flat year-on-year based on several factors including HIBOR reversals, normalization of pass-through rates, interest rate headwinds of 44 basis points, and WRB portfolio actions representing around a 2% headwind.
Volume growth is expected to mitigate NII headwinds, though the pace and extent of volume growth remains uncertain.
The Fit for Growth program is expected to be completed in 2026, with revised estimates of both cost-to-achieve (CTA) and savings now expected to be around $1.3 billion rather than the initial expectation of $1.5 billion.
A medium-term financial framework will be provided at the investor event in May.
Strategic Execution and Performance
The bank completed its three-year strategic plan in just two years, achieving objectives across income growth, return on tangible equity, and shareholder distributions a year earlier than initially guided.
The bank achieved strong underlying positive income-to-cost jaws in both 2024 and 2025, with 4% positive jaws in 2025 and underlying cost income ratio improving 80 basis points to 59%.
2025 marks the fifth consecutive year of improvement in both underlying and statutory return on tangible equity.
The Fit for Growth program has deployed close to $700 million in cost-to-achieve since inception and achieved over $700 million in run rate savings, with over 300 initiatives driving simplification, standardization, and digitization.
The bank will shift to presenting results on a reported basis starting from the first quarter of 2026, moving away from underlying financials to provide focus on a single set of financial outcomes.
Asset Quality and Risk Management
High-risk assets were down $1 billion quarter-on-quarter, with the $1.5 billion reduction in early alerts due to a combination of client upgrades, repayments, and a sovereign downgrade from early alerts into Stage 3.
Asset quality remained resilient in the face of a volatile environment, with no significant signs of new stress emerging across the group.
CIB impairment remained benign at $4 million, while WRB impairment improved year-on-year reflecting the impact of portfolio optimization actions.
Balance Sheet and Capital Management
Underlying customer deposits were up 12% in the year, with growth in current account and savings account (CASA) and term deposits across WRB and CIB.
Risk-weighted assets were $258 billion, up 4% in 2025.
The bank closed the year with a CET1 ratio of 14.1%, providing a strong capital position to support growth while delivering attractive returns to shareholders.
