Market uncertainty hit sales of equity-related wealth management products, although this was partly offset by growth in bancassurance and fixed income products, the firm said in a statement today.

The wealth management business of Standard Chartered sits within the consumer banking division. That division made a total operating profit of $899 million in the latest six-month period, down from $1.013 billion a year earlier.

Commenting on the figures, Peter Sands, chief executive, said that underlying performance of consumer banking, and especially wealth management, has been encouraging.

“And then if you look underneath that at the momentum in some of the key businesses that we're building - for example, in private banking - we had strong double-digit growth,” he said.

For the banking group as a whole, it logged a pre-tax profit of $3.948 billion, up 9 per cent from $3.636 billion a year ago. It reported a profit attributable to ordinary shareholders of $2.806 billion, up 12 per cent from $2.516 billion a year earlier.

At the end of last year, StanChart had a Core Tier 1 capital ratio at 11.6 per cent.

“Standard Chartered has performed strongly during the first six months of 2012. Set against a macro-economic environment that is increasingly challenged, we have continued to deliver consistent good returns. We have a firm grip on the business, with the ability to turn adversity to our advantage, and we will keep investing as we see long-term opportunities for growth,” Sir John Peace, chairman, said in a statement.