Standard Chartered has announced it will be doubling its investment in its wealth management business following a record increase in revenue in the third quarter of 2024.

Its third-quarter results showed that its wealth business saw a 32 per cent increase in revenue in Q3.

Furthermore, the bank’s wealth and retail banking arm achieved pre-tax profits of $742m, up by 11 per cent during the quarter, while for the nine months to the end of September, its profits rose by 5 per cent to $2.1bn.

Following these results, the bank confirmed it would be doubling its investment in wealth management for affluent clients to accelerate its income growth and returns.

In its wealth and retail banking arm, Standard Chartered will invest around $1.5bn over five years in relationship managers and investment advisers, wealth solutions, and enhanced advisory, cross-border, and digital capabilities, representing a doubling of investment compared to its previous plans.

It stated that this “incremental investment” will be funded by reshaping its mass retail business to focus on building a strong pipeline of future affluent and international banking clients.

The bank is also exploring sales of a small number of businesses to focus its resources on the cross-border needs of its affluent wealth and retail banking clients, and its corporate and investment (CIB) banking clients.

"We have delivered a strong performance in the third quarter with profit before tax up 41 per cent, driven by a record quarter in wealth solutions and strong growth in our global markets business,” commented Standard Chartered group chief executive, Bill Winters.

“We are doubling investment in our consistently fast-growing and high-returning wealth management business, and we will continue to reshape our mass retail business to focus on developing our pipeline of future affluent and international banking clients.

“In our CIB business, we are taking actions to focus on larger global clients who rely on our unique cross-border capabilities.”

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