Standard Chartered profit jumps 46% as CEO bets on a fragmenting global economy: ‘An advantage for us’

Detailed summary

Pre-tax profit rose 27% to $2.25 billion as wealth fees climbed 26%, and CEO Bill Winters is betting on tokenized money in Hong Kong.

The CEO of British multinational bank Standard Chartered says “geopolitical fragmentation is an advantage for us,” after the lender reported a 46% jump in third-quarter net profit to $1.5 billion.

Speaking at a media roundtable, Bill Winters said the splintering of global trade is creating new business for the bank, which helps multinational corporations manage cross-border deals, the South China Morning Post reported.

His remarks come as companies rethink where they make things amid rising trade tensions. Many have adopted a “China plus one” strategy, shifting some production to Southeast Asia to offset China’s rising costs. That shift has proven more complicated than expected, as many factories in the region still rely on Chinese inputs, Fortune reported in October.

Geopolitical fragmentation refers to the structural shift in the global economy as supply chains, trade, and policy realign along political lines.

For banks, that shift changes where money flows. A company moving manufacturing from China to Southeast Asia, for instance, needs new banking relationships and financing arrangements in each new market.

Standard Chartered operates in 54 markets, with a significant presence in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. That network lets it follow clients as their trade and investment move.

“We’ve really focused on getting a few things right and one is to serve multinational corporations and multinational individuals on their cross-border needs,” Winters said.

The bank’s third-quarter results, released Oct. 28, show how much it now leans on fee-generating businesses beyond traditional lending. Operating income rose 13% to $5.8 billion, and pre-tax profit climbed 27% to $2.25 billion.

Wealth Solutions income rose 26% to $1.1 billion, while Global Markets income grew 20% to just over $1 billion. The bank raised its 2026 outlook and now expects a return on tangible equity of about 14%.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Fortune. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.