StanChart to Take $900 Million Charge Over U.S.\, U.K. Probes

StanChart to Take $900 Million Charge Over U.S., U.K. Probes

(Bloomberg) -- Standard Chartered Plc said it will take a $900 million charge tied to regulatory probes in its fourth-quarter results.

The provision will cover the bank’s estimates for potential penalties from probes over U.S. sanctions violations, currency trading issues and financial crimes controls, the company said in a statement Wednesday. The firm settled a currency trading investigation last month and said it received a notice from the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority over the financial crimes controls.

The FCA plans to impose a penalty of 102 million pounds ($133 million), Standard Chartered said. The bank said it’s still considering its options related to the FCA’s notice.

Standard Chartered Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters is due to present a new plan to improve profitability when the bank reports full-year results next week. He may also announce a new round of cost cuts to try to boost a share price that’s down more than 35 percent since he took over in June 2015.

Read more: StanChart investor hopes for turnaround

The provision could wipe out the majority of the bank’s second-half profit. Joseph Dickerson, an analyst at Jefferies Financial Group Inc., said in a note this week he estimated the firm would post pretax profit of $1.4 billion in the last six months of 2018, which included no litigation costs.

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