Standard Chartered chief’s pay jumps 22% as lender reports profit bump | Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered has handed its chief executive his largest pay package in nearly a decade as the lender reported a jump in profits, despite bracing for up to £1bn in potential losses due to China’s property downturn.

The profit bump helped push the longstanding chief executive Bill Winters’ pay up 22% to £7.8m – from £6.4m in 2022. It is the most he has been paid since 2015.

The London-headquartered bank, which makes most of its profits in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, said annual pre-tax profits rose by 19% in 2023, rising to $5.1bn (£4bn).

The growth was due in part to high interest rates, which allowed it to charge more for loans and mortgages. It said revenue from those interest charges, compared to what it paid out to savers, was expected to grow in 2024 “and beyond”.

The stronger performance helped offset the money that the bank put aside for potential losses. The lender is ultimately expecting a loss of up to $1.2bn linked to its Chinese commercial real estate portfolio, though the actual charges taken for the year were offset by improvements in other parts of the business, and totalled $528m.

Standard Chartered also took a $153m hit in the value of its stake in China Bohai Bank, as China’s lenders have become increasingly exposed to bad debts linked to its property crisis.

Winters’ pay award outstrips every other year since he has led the bank apart from his first year, in 2015, when the 62-year-old’s pay package was flattered by a buyout award and totalled £8.4m.

This week rival HSBC nearly doubled the payout for its own chief executive, Noel Quinn, to £10.6m.

Standard Chartered’s bonus pool for its bankers fell 1% to $1.6m, although shareholders were handed a final dividend worth 21 cents a share. The lender also announced a $1bn share buyback.

Winters said: “We produced strong results in 2023, continuing to demonstrate the value of our franchise and delivering our financial objective … We will now build on this success, taking action to deliver sustainably higher returns.”