Standard Chartered PLC (STAN) Q4 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning and good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our full year 2025 results call. I'm joined here in London by Pete Burrell, our interim group CFO, and Manas Costello, our global head of investor relations. We'll take you through our results and outlook before opening up for questions. 2025 was an extraordinary year by any measure. It tested the resilience of the global system and the relevance of institutions operating within it. It was a year shaped by heightened geopolitical tension, tariff announcements, and periods of significant financial market volatility across multiple asset classes. But it was also a year that demonstrated something fundamental, that global trade, capital flows, and economic connectivity endure and even thrive, and that institutions built to support them responsibly and at scale matter more than ever. Now, when I spoke to you at our first quarter results in the immediate aftermath of the tariff announcements, I said that we were entering that period of global volatility from a position of strength. Our results for 2025 demonstrate exactly what that strength looks like in practice. Our underlying return on tangible equity for the year was 14.7%. This is not just a financial outcome. It's evidence of a strategy that's working and a franchise that's delivering with consistency. We delivered record annual income of $20.9 billion, up 8% year on year. That growth was very broad-based. Global markets and global banking both achieved double-digit growth through the year. Our wealth business grew by 24%, supported by record net new money of $52 billion. Importantly, this growth was delivered despite interest rate headwinds and a softer fourth quarter for episodic income and markets. It speaks to the depth of our client relationships, the re...