Standard Chartered has announced plans to return cash back to shareholders as it reported a pre-tax profit of $5.7bn for 2023, up 19 per cent compared with the previous year. The Asia-focused lender will launch a $1bn share buyback and aims to return around $5bn to shareholders over the next three years.
During a conference call today, CEO Bill Winters forthrightly acknowledged the bank’s disappointing stock performance and committed to addressing it. “The share price is crap. I know that’s going to be a quote,” Winters told reporters. Standard Chartered share price had declined by 16 per cent in the last 12 months. Winters said the lender’s market valuation does not reflect its performance based on historical returns for the industry, blaming a number of factors.
