Wealth solutions results at the bank showed a rise in operating income and it booked $52 billion in affluent net new money.

The wealth solutions division of UK-listed Standard Chartered today reported that it logged $3.09 billion in operating income for 2025, rising 24 per cent on a year earlier. For the final three months of last year, operating income rose 20 per cent to $677 million.

The bank, which earns the bulk of its revenues outside the UK, said in a statement that the rise in its wealth solutions income was driven by a 28 per cent gain in investment products income and 12 per cent increase in bancassurance. 

Standard Chartered said new client arrivals at its affluent banking proposition were a positive force, with 275,000 clients onboarded in 2025, and $52 billion of affluent net new money, equivalent to 14 per cent growth of assets under management.

Underlying pre-tax profit at the wealth business was $7.9 billion last year, rising 16 per cent; and it rose 18 per cent for Q4 2025, to $1.235 billion. Costs rose by 5 per cent, mainly from higher spending on business initiatives, such as hiring of relationship managers; there was a $595 million credit impairment charge, but down by $28 million from actions to optimise portfolios in unsecured lending portfolios. Other impairment charges fell by $108 million from a year earlier due to a non-repeat of software asset write-offs.

Group results 
Underlying profit before tax stood at $7.9 billion last year, rising 18 per cent; reported net profit also rose by 18 per cent to $7.0 billion. The bank achieved a return on tangible equity of 14.7 per cent. 

Standard Chartered said it had a Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio 14.1 per cent at the end of the year, little changed from a year earlier.

"We are seeing robust growth in our larger markets, and structural shifts in global trade and investment play to our distinctive strengths serving our clients' cross-border and affluent banking needs. We have increased our full year dividend per share by 65 per cent and are announcing a new share buyback of $1.5 billion," Bill Winters, Standard Chartered's CEO, said.

Looking ahead for this year, the bank said it expects that reported operating income growth year-on-year will be around the bottom end of 5-7 per cent range on constant currency terms. 

 Analysts said group underlying pre-tax profit missed some expectations but on the positive said, the rise in dividends and share buyback programme was welcome news.

"After years of reshaping the business, the bank is in the best condition it has been for some time, with that progress increasingly showing up in the numbers and helping drive a 50% share price gain over the past year. The growing foothold in affluent banking across Asia, Africa and the Middle East remains a clear long?term opportunity," Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown, said in a note. "There is still work to do on costs, but with the `Fit for Growth' programme entering its final year, further progress should be coming, and the valuation doesn’t look too demanding when stacked up against its Asian peers.”

Shares in Standard Chartered have risen more than 54 per cent in the 12 months to where it was trading around 09:15 GMT - at 1,815 pence per share. They were down from the market open, however.