By Selena Li
HONG KONG, May 19 (Reuters) – Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters faces a key test on Tuesday to convince investors the bank can build on its long turnaround and deliver stronger growth, even as geopolitical uncertainty clouds the outlook for some of its key markets.
The Asia- and Africa-focused lender is set to unveil its latest global strategy after hitting earlier performance targets ahead of schedule, shifting attention to whether Winters can help the bank sustain momentum after years of restructuring.
StanChart executed a decade-long turnaround to transform itself from a potential takeover target into a profitable emerging-markets specialist.
Investors will now be watching whether StanChart sets a more ambitious profitability goal, after JPMorgan analyst Kian Abouhossein said earlier this month he expected the investor day to centre on a target for a return on tangible equity (ROTE) – a key bank profitability measure – above 15% for 2028.
That would be a leap from the current 12% target for 2026, and follows a 2025 ROTE of 14.7%, which beat the bank’s prior target of around 13% a year earlier than planned.
Abouhossein expects StanChart to underpin the target by keeping its focus on higher-margin businesses, including affluent retail clients and financial institutions within its corporate and investment banking division. In the first quarter, the bank reported both its highest wealth revenue and new client money.
That ambition, however, comes as Middle East uncertainty clouds the outlook. Asia-Pacific banks may need to raise loan-loss provisions further if the Iran conflict drags on, as higher energy costs and weaker growth strain borrowers, analysts said.
For StanChart, the region has so far been both a risk and a revenue driver. The bank set aside $190 million in precautionary provisions linked to the Middle East conflict in the first quarter.
FROM TURNAROUND TO GROWTH
The strategy update also comes as StanChart moves to settle questions over who will succeed Winters, who has been at the helm for 11 years. Speculation recently centred around former group CFO Diego De Giorgi and former corporate and investment banking head Simon Cooper, both of whom have left the bank.
The bank on Monday named investor relations head and equity research veteran Manus Costello as permanent CFO.
Succession had been a key concern for investors, but Winters’ confirmation that he will stay on gives the bank a window to focus on strategy execution without management stability looming as an immediate issue.
The update on strategy will also invite comparison with bigger rival HSBC, which is holding its own investor day this week.
Investors generally favoured HSBC for much of Winters’ tenure, with HSBC’s London-listed shares outperforming StanChart’s from his June 10, 2015, start date.
That gap peaked in March 2025, when StanChart was up about 9.5% from Winters’ start, versus HSBC’s 43.3%.
Since then, however, StanChart has narrowed the gap sharply, rising about 58% from the March 2025 close to May 15 market close in London, compared with HSBC’s roughly 61% gain over the same period.
Tuesday’s task for Winters is to convince investors that recent outperformance marks the start of a new growth phase, rather than the final dividend from a long turnaround.
(Reporting by Selena Li; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
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