Standard Chartered clears the decks

Last year was dominated by growing shareholder unease with the bank’s pedestrian performance. Outgoing chairman Sir John Peace admitted the bank’s performance was "disappointing". At an operational level, the bank was beset with costly problems. Shortcomings in transaction surveillance systems resulted in a $300m (£194m) fine (though this is stripped out of the adjusted profit figures), while slower growth in key markets and a sharp fall in commodity prices pushed up impairments by a third to $2.14bn. Geographically, the Korea-based North East Asian business retained the wooden spoon for performance: operating losses ballooned from $3m to $125m as income plunged 11 per cent.

As a result, the bank's core-tier-one ratio fell from 11.2 per cent to 10.7 per cent last year. The outgoing management team set a target of 11-12 per cent for this year, which they said would be met by reducing risk-weighted assets by $25bn-$30bn over the next two years. That's out of a year-end total of $342bn, up from $331bn in December 2013. Steps are also in place to address the core issue of non-performing loans: plans to exit troublesome accounts and instigate disposals will have cost $450m by the end of this year. However, these measures will inevitably create a drag on income while funds are redeployed into more attractive areas.

Analysts at Investec are forecasting EPS of 166¢ and net tangible assets (NTA) of 1,785¢ a share.