Standard Chartered on 19 May 2026 announced new medium-term targets in Hong Kong alongside an investor event, aiming for a return on tangible equity (RoTE) of more than 15% in 2028, building to about 18% in 2030, after achieving its 2026 targets a year earlier than planned.
NEW TARGETS
The 2028 RoTE goal represents an uplift of more than three percentage points from 2025. The bank is also targeting a high-teens compound annual growth rate in earnings per share and 5-7% annual income growth from 2025 to 2028, and a cost-to-income ratio, excluding notable items, of about 57% in 2028, down from 63% in 2025.
It aims to raise income per employee by about 20% by 2028, aided by a reduction of more than 15% in corporate functions roles by 2030. The bank said it would continue to apply disciplined workforce planning and scale practical uses of automation, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence.
Standard Chartered said it would operate with a common equity tier 1 ratio of 13-14% and a through-the-cycle loan loss ratio of 30-35 basis points, and would support a dividend payout ratio of 30% or more with a progressive dividend per share.
WEALTH IN FOCUS
The bank said it would invest disproportionately in Wealth & Retail Banking, bringing forward its ambitions from 2029 to 2028, including USD 200 billion of net new money and affluent income reaching 75% of the business's total. In Corporate & Investment Banking it plans to invest in higher-returning areas such as the Financial Institutions client segment while consolidating leadership in areas including renminbi, sustainable finance and Islamic finance.
“Our strategy is grounded in a simple belief: the world is becoming more connected, more complex and more cross-border,” Group Chief Executive Bill Winters said. “Our trusted ability to combine network and product capabilities to solve challenging cross-border problems is difficult to replicate.”