Standard Chartered PLC; (Holding Co.); Standard Chartered Bank (Lead Bank)

The stable outlook on SC PLC mainly reflects our view that the group will maintain its adequate risk management in the coming two years. The group has made steady progress in cleaning up its balance sheet and strengthening its risk management in the past few years. It has also demonstrated resilience in performance despite difficult operating conditions amid COVID-19 and very low interest rates. We expect the group to maintain asset quality and credit losses that are broadly comparable to its peers that are global systematically important banks (G-SIBs). We expect the Standard Chartered group to maintain its strong and stable deposit base, which benefits from the flight to quality in times of market stress. We also expect the group

...Standard Chartered PLC (SC PLC) has shown resilience through COVID-19 thanks to its strong risk management. In our opinion, the Standard Chartered group has navigated well through a difficult period, managing both the pandemic and very low interest rates. We attribute the success to efforts to derisk the portfolio, overall adequate underwriting, and a greater emphasis on risk-adjusted returns over asset-volume-driven returns since 2015 (which was when the group was loss-making and a new management team arrived). The group has also maintained a strong and stable deposit base throughout the pandemic. The group also benefits from a flight to quality in times of market stress, particularly in Hong Kong and Singapore....

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