If Tuesday’s newsletter was all about the ‘S’ in environment, social and corporate governance (ESG), then today’s is all about the ‘G’, as some financial services investors shook up shareholder meetings at Barclays, Standard Chartered and HSBC this week. Climate activists and other disgruntled investors https://www.reuters.com/business/climate-activists-take-aim-barclays-stanchart-shareholder-meetings-2022-05-04 glued themselves to chairs, set off alarms and chanted slogans at the three banks’ meetings on Wednesday.
SINGAPORE/LONDON (Reuters) -Standard Chartered posted a forecast-beating 6% rise in first-quarter profit, sending its shares sharply higher, as the emerging-markets focused lender benefited from rising interest rates aimed at controlling inflation. The London-headquartered lender, which is focused on Asia, Africa and the Middle East, now expects income growth this year to slightly exceed earlier guidance of 5-7%, underlining how banks' prospects are being lifted by policy rate hikes even as the global economic outlook dims. StanChart's Hong Kong-listed shares jumped more than 12% at one point to their highest level since early March following the earnings report, compared with a 0.6% rise in the broader market.
Standard Chartered plans to cut half of its existing office space in Singapore’s financial district, according to sources.