Standard Chartered's

HONG KONG/LONDON (REUTERS) - Standard Chartered's first-quarter profit tumbled 12 per cent on increased credit impairment and provisions for future loan losses as the coronavirus crisis hammered its borrowers, even as it expects an economic recovery later this year. The emerging markets-focussed lender's more positive tone contrasts with other European lenders that have posted earnings so far, saying it was seeing encouraging signs in China that the recovery could be yet more rapid than that. As a British-based lender focused on Asia, Africa and the Middle E...

LONDON (BLOOMBERG) - Problem loans at some of Standard Chartered's large clients may top US$600 million (S$854 million) as a string of corporate scandals coincides with woes at firms hit by the coronavirus pandemic. NMC Health, the hospital operator that's uncovered evidence of fraud, and Hin Leong Trading, the Singapore oil trader being investigated by police, represent nearly US$500 million of lending for Standard Chartered, according to public filings. Separately, a South African farm bank that the London-based company lends to has defaulted on some of its d...