Standard Chartered PLC (STAN) Q1 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. I'll take a few minutes to lead you through our first quarter 2026 results. Then Bill Maness and I will take your questions. In my remarks, I'll be comparing performance year on year at constant currency, unless otherwise stated. As a reminder, these results are now presented on a reported basis, as outlined in the press release we published on March 25th. We've had a strong start to the year, delivering record income on the back of continued momentum in wealth solutions, global banking, and global markets flow income. We are maintaining our 2026 guidance, and we continue to expect return on tangible equity to be greater than 12% this year. Since we last spoke to you, the conflict in the Middle East has developed. Our priority remains the safety of our people and serving our clients' needs. While there's been no material impact on our portfolios, we have taken precautionary ECL overlays in order to reflect the risk of a prolonged conflict. We remain watchful of the external environment, and we will continue to support our clients as they adjust to this evolving landscape. I'll now take you through the numbers in more detail. First quarter income of $5.9 billion was up 9%. This was driven by strong non-interest income growth, particularly in wealth solutions and global banking. Expenses were up 1%, with business growth largely funded by fit for growth and other efficiency savings. Credit impairment of $296 million included $190 million of precautionary overlays in relation to the Middle East conflict. Put together, we delivered $2.5 billion in profit before tax, a return on tangible equity of 17.4%, and a 31% increase in our EPS. I will now cover each component in detail. NRI was down 3% quarte...